


Death's Sullen Minion

by Res_CVX



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:10:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Res_CVX/pseuds/Res_CVX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After defeating Voldemort for good, Harry never thought he'd have another task; least of all, one that involved working for the one who he had evaded on multiple occasions, Death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

With a huge yawn, Harry made his way to his bed, and collapsed. After spending all day helping with the repairs at Hogwarts after the battle, Harry greatly missed his bed. After placing his wand under the pillow so that it was easily accessible to him, Harry fell asleep.

Feeling the softness of his mattress disappear, Harry’s eyes snapped opened. After a moment, Harry realized that he was no longer staring at the ceiling of Sirius’s room in Grimmauld Place. Sitting up quickly, Harry took in the place he was in. Light was streaming in from the multiple windows, and all around him were tables covered in crisp white linen, with cutlery and a small vase with flowers already set up on the tables. Looking around, Harry was finally spotted a sign saying that he was in St. John’s restaurant in London. Even more concerned, Harry got off the floor, and looked around to see if anyone else was in here. Harry paused when something caught the corner of his eye. Almost hidden in a corner, a rather thin, sickly, middle-aged man was sitting at a table, eating whatever was in front of him. Slowly approaching him, Harry made to pull out his wand before remembering that it was under his pillow. Maybe it was time for him to invest in an arm holster for his wand.

Now that he was closer, Harry could see that on the table was an assortment of food that comprised of sausages, a steak and kidney pie, some treacle tart, some cauldron cakes, some more scones, and tea. Even more confused than he already was, Harry continued to approach the man. It was only when he was almost next to the table that he saw them. All three of the Deathly Hallows were in the middle of the table, with the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone placed on top of the neatly folded Invisibility Cloak. Freezing, Harry stared between the Hallows and the man.

“Harry, please stop gawking and take a seat,” the man said gesturing to the seat across from him. Getting over the shock of the man knowing his name, Harry slowly moved towards the chair and settled into it. At once, the man pushed a plate of treacle tart towards him. “I believe that this is your favorite, am I correct?” the man said, finally making eye contact with him. Silently gulping, Harry slowly nodded.

“Um, yes, thank you.” Every instinct Harry had was warning him that the person in front of him was very dangerous. With a short look from him, Harry grabbed a fork and took a bite. While it was very good, there was no way for Harry to enjoy the tart with the person sitting across from him. Taking another bite, Harry’s eyes caught the Hallows, and he paused. The Stone should have still been in the forest where he had dropped it; the Wand also should have been in the coffin with Dumbledore, and his cloak had been placed into his Gringotts vault. Summoning up his Gryffindor courage, Harry asked, “Why are the Hallows here?” The man paused in his eating.

“I have something to discuss with you about them,” he said simply before going back to his food. Harry felt his eye twitch.

“Who are you anyway?” The man placed down his fork, and carefully wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Are all youngsters these days becoming more and more rude?” he muttered. Harry tried to calm down his rising nerves, but to no avail. “Harry, I am Death.” Harry stared at him. Death? As in the skeleton that goes around with a scythe?

“The very same, though, as you can see, I am not currently a skeleton.” Harry’s eyes widened.

“Did you just─”

“Did I just read your mind? No. Your expression was enough to know what you were thinking.” As surreal and incredulous as it sounded, something in the way the man held himself as well as the aura that surrounded him led to believe that this man could actually be Death. (It was also better for his pride as being nervous around Death sounds a lot better than being nervous around an intimidating man.)

This now leads to the reason why Death wanted to speak to Harry in the first place. Harry looked down at the Hallows. Since at one point, all three Hallows had been in his possession, did that mean he was the Master of Death? Was that why Death wanted to speak to him? He was angry about having a master?

“Are you here to take the Hallows?” Harry asked cautiously.

“No, Harry. It is not in my place to take them after they have found a master,” Death said, taking a sip of the tea.

“So are you going to kill me then?” Harry asked, clenching his hand to stop its slight trembling. Death raised an eyebrow.

“Now why exactly would I do that?” Death said, sounding both bemused and mirthful.

“Uh, it could either be that I avoided you and came back from the dead or that the Hallows were mine at one point, which would make me your master, and I am very much sure that you despise the idea of being controlled in anyway,” Harry rattled off. Death lips quirked up.

“Indeed, you are right,” he said, sounding amused. “I do hate the idea of being controlled, and yes, while I do find the idea of you coming back to life somewhat irritating, your case, compared to a few others, is rather insignificant. Besides, Tom Riddle was becoming an annoyance and an abomination to me, so I’ll take it into account for your case that you were the one to get rid of him.” Harry bit back his retort. He didn’t think Death would appreciate it if Harry demanded to know why he didn’t take care of it himself if Voldemort was such an annoyance to him. Even if Harry wasn’t a Slytherin, he still has some sense of self-preservation.

“If you don’t want to kill me, then what do you want from me?” Harry asked. He honestly had no idea if he should be relieved or not that Death didn’t want him dead. On one hand, he was still alive. On the other hand, he was probably needed for something, and if it was coming from Death, then Harry knew it had to be something important. Death looked at him straight in the eyes.

“I want you to accept the Hallows and do your job,” he said simply. Harry gaped at him.

“I thought you said you hated the idea of having a master?” he blurted out. Death raised an eyebrow.

“Child, did you actually _think_ that you could be my master?”  Harry could actually hear the patronizing tone of his voice even though Death had said that evenly.

“That’s what the title is, isn’t? And I’m not a child,” Harry mumbled.

“You’re right, amoeba,” he corrected. “While you would have a higher rank than the normal reapers, you still would be reporting directly to me.”

“Reapers? There’s more than one?” Death gave him a deadpanned look.

“There are 7 billion people on this planet alone, Harry, never mind the countless dimensions in existence.” Harry’s eyes widened at the last part, but kept his mouth shut. “Even for someone like me, it is an immense amount of work for one being.”

“If I serve you, then why is it called the _Master_ of Death?” Death looked amused again.

“If it was named otherwise, no idiot would want to aspire to look for them, and to be honest, I needed someone to assist me with a few things that the reapers themselves cannot do.”

“So I’m essentially your glorified servant?” Harry asked, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice.

“If thinking of it that way makes it easier for you, then by all means, go ahead.”

“And what would happen if I said no?” Harry asked, crossing his arms.

“Use your imagination, Harry,” Death said, finishing his tea, and pouring out a new cup. Harry assumed that he meant that Death would probably kill him or something.

“So what exactly do I have to do?” Harry asked, trying to forget about his last thought.

“For now, nothing, but when I do call, I expect you to do everything in your power to respond and join me promptly.” Harry snorted, thinking about Voldemort’s expectations for the Death Eaters. He gave Death an apologetic expression when he raised an eyebrow. “Also,” Death continued, “you are not to tell anyone about our arrangement.” Harry shrugged. He expected that.

“Anything else?” Death finished his cup of tea, and wiped his mouth again. Placing his napkin on an empty plate, he stood up.

“When I summon you, be sure to bring a bottle of Butterbeer,” he said, gazing down at Harry.

“Huh?”

“I am quite fond of them, and I haven’t had one in awhile.” Harry nodded slowly in disbelief. Glancing at his watch, Death looked at Harry. “Until next time.” With a snap of his fingers, Harry found himself staring at the ceiling of Sirius’s room. Harry sat up, and gazed around the room. Not seeing anything, he collapsed back on the bed. Feeling something, he sat back up, and looked under his pillow. Along with his wand were the three Hallows and a small folded up paper. Picking up the paper, he saw that it was a note from Death.

_Be sure to always keep the Hallows on your person. It will make contacting you much easier._

_-Death_

Letting out a deep sigh, Harry collapsed back on the bed.

“Alas poor peaceful life. I knew you well.” Crushing the note in his hand, Harry attempted to go back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, it'll be fun," Charlie pleaded. Dean was half tempted. He had never been to one of those comic conventions, so he was curious. He turned to ask Sam what he thought, but seeing him hold back a laugh, Dean scowled.

"When is it anyway?" Dean asked Charlie instead.

"Next week." Dean glanced back at Sam.

"Do you think you'll be recovered enough by next week?" he asked Sam. Sam shrugged from the hospital bed.

"It depends on what the doctor says... As soon as he remembers that I'm here," Sam said with a grimace. Charlie shifted slightly, and Dean saw the guilty expression on her face.

"For the last time, this wasn't your fault," Dean said, slightly exasperated.

"I was the one that called you guys," Charlie said, wringing her hands a little. Dean sighed.

"But you didn't know that there were so many ghosts," Sam said gently. When Charlie still looked slightly upset, Dean gave in.

"I'll go with you to that con, okay?" Charlie started to grin.

"No costumes though," Sam cut in.

"Why?" Charlie complained. "You guys have no problems dressing up for hunts."

"That's different, you know that," Sam said. He and Charlie both stared at Dean, clearly expecting him to side with one of them.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with costumes," Dean said, coughing a little. Sam rolled his eyes, while Charlie smirked. "What?" Dean asked, perturbed.

"I have a bunch of ideas about what guys can wear," she said, rubbing her hands together. Sam gave Dean a deadpanned look. Charlie glanced out their hospital room door. "Look," Charlie, pointing outside, "that guy is in the convention spirit." Dean glanced outside. All he saw was some black haired kid talking to someone.

"Is there really some guy outside LARPing?" Sam raised an eyebrow. Charlie looked again.

"It doesn't look like it. He could just be cosplaying. I know some people who like to cosplay everyday, but why isn't he wearing a Hogwarts uniform..." she said, trailing off.

"What?" Charlie furiously turned towards him.

"Don't tell me you never read the book." Dean opened his mouth, but then closed it again. Charlie looked scandalized. "You never—"

"I watched the movies," Dean said, defending himself. "Sammy was the one who read the books."

"The books are better than the movies," Charlie said, crossing her arms, "but good job Sam."

"Thank you...?" Sam said. "Who is he cosplaying as?"

"Harry Potter of course," Charlie said, discreetly trying to watch the guy. Sam looked at Dean, who shrugged.

"He has the hair."

"Uh oh," Charlie said, Turning away from the door, and putting herself out of view of the door.

"What happened?" Dean asked. Charlie, who was planted against the wall, pointed towards the door.

"That guy just pointed to our room," she said. Dean exchanged a quick look with Sam, and slowly peeked out the door. He saw the dark haired guy, who was still talking to someone.

"I can't see who he's talking to," Dean said. "Did you see anything?" he asked Charlie. She shook her head. She peeked out for a moment.

"Uh, he's starting to head over here." Dean made his decision. Slowly, he pulled out the handgun he had hidden. He wasn't going to allow some monster to attack them. "How did you even sneak that in?" she asked in amazement.

"Charlie, go grab the holy water from Sam's bag," Dean said. She nodded, and quickly dug out the bottle.

"I still don't understand why you guys don't have water guns," Charlie muttered. She retook her position against the wall next to the door, and Dean took position on the other side of the door. A few moments went by, and the second Dean heard the doorknob turn, he held his gun up.

“Freeze!”

The Harry Potter cosplayer did freeze, and stared at the barrel of Dean’s gun. Now that the guy was closer, Dean could easily see the round framed glasses, and was barely able to make out the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. This kid did a rather nice job. _‘Or well almost,’_ Dean amended, when he took in the iPad the kid was holding.

“Can you put the gun down?” the kid asked calmly. Of course he was British.

“No,” Dean said. “First tell us why you’re here.” Dean gestured to Charlie to throw the holy water, but the kid turned around, and snatched the bottle from her hand. Before Dean could do anything, the kid opened the bottle, and poured some of the holy water on himself. Looking up at their expressions, he looked satisfied and closed the bottle.

“I really can’t have you mess this up,” the kid said, gesturing to the iPad. He handed Charlie back the bottle. Turning back to Dean, he repeated, “Can you _please_ put the gun down?”

“Look, just because you proved that you’re not a demon doesn’t mean that you’re still not the enemy,” Dean said. Dean raised an eyebrow when the kid turned around, and spoke to the empty space behind him.

“It looks like you were right again,” the kid said. He then turned back to the others. “You guys are the Winchesters, right?”

“Well, they are,” Charlie said. The kid looked at her.

“Then who are you?” he asked, confused.

“Charlie… Bradbury,” she said. “But I know all about hunting and stuff,” she added.

“O-Okay,” the kid said slowly. He turned back to Dean and Sam. “So you two are the Winchesters. Sam and Dean, right?”

“Who wants to know,” Dean asked, still holding up his guns. The kid gave him an odd look.

“Me… I just asked.” Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Before he could say anything else, Charlie cut in.

“I’m sorry. I know this is bad timing, but you’re really good,” she said. The kid looked confused.

“I’m sorry?” he said, startled. Dean rolled his eyes.

“See what I mean. You’re exactly how I imagined him to be, though I still think you should have worn the uniform,” Charlie said, grinning a little. “Where were you when they were casting the roles? You’re better than Daniel Radcliffe.”

“He is,” Sam agreed. Dean put down the gun, and stared at Sam.

“Really?”

“What?” Sam said defensively. “He is kinda how I imagined him to be when I read the books.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but what are you guys talking about?” the kid cut in, looking at the three of them. “And why are you laughing?” he asked, turning towards the empty space behind him. Dean and Sam exchanged looks.

“Seriously though, why are you cosplaying in a hospital?” Charlie asked, disregarding the fact that the kid was talking to no one. The kid looked even more confused, so Dean decided to step in.

“Who or what are you talking to?” Dean said. He was half tempted to aim the gun at the kid again. The kid fidgeted slightly.

“You can’t see her,” he muttered, “but according to her, you guys know her…” Dean and Sam frowned, while Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Uh, her name is Tessa?” the kid added. Dean’s eyes widened.

“That name sounds familiar,” Charlie muttered under her breath.

“You mean the reaper?” Sam asked. (“I knew I heard the name somewhere.”). The kid nodded. Dean stared at the space the kid was talking towards earlier. “How can you see her?” Sam asked.

“Are you dying?” Charlie asked, looking concerned.

“No, I’m not,” the kid said quickly. He blinked for a moment. “Shit, I realized I never introduced myself.” He cleared his throat. “My name is Harry Potter─” Charlie and Sam burst out laughing, and a few seconds later, Dean joined them.

“Right, ‘Harry Potter’... of course,” Dean said, trying control his laughter. “No really kid, who are you?” The kid looked even more confused. Before he could say anything, he paused and turned towards the empty space next to him. A few seconds later, he held out his free hand, and a moment later, a woman materialized next to him, holding his hand. Dean stared at her.

“Hello Dean,” she said.

“Tessa…”

“Hello Sam.” Sam could only wordlessly nod back. “Miss… Bradbury.” Dean had a feeling that she knew that wasn’t Charlie’s real name.

“Hey,” Charlie said, smiling a little.

“No, Charlie,” Dean deadpanned, when he recognized the smirk on her face. Charlie gave him her own deadpanned look.

“Kill joy,” she muttered.

“You said you would tell me why they were laughing,” the kid cut in. Dean glared at the kid, who was still holding her hand. Tessa gave him a slightly pitying look.

“I should probably explain something before I start,” she said. Everyone in the room was listening to her, so she continued. “In the universe, there are many dimensions that exist; an infinite number, to be exact. In some cases, there are very little differences between some worlds, and in others, the differences can be… alarming.” Tessa turned towards the kid. “It just so happens that in this dimension, your life is a fictional book series.” The kid stared at Tessa for a moment before he fully registered what she said, and his jaw dropped.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” he said weakly. Dean, Sam, and Charlie stared at Tessa before turning to look at the kid, who’s still in shock.

“You’re actually Harry Potter,” Charlie asked slowly. Harry Potter snapped back to attention, and stared at her.

“I am.”

“Do you have your wand?” she asked, very nearly breathless. Harry nods. He hands Tessa (whose hand he was still holding) the iPad, and reached into his pocket, and pulled out a wand. It looked different from the one they used in the movies, but if the person himself looked different from the actor, then the wands were allowed to look different. “Can I see it?”

“No,” Harry said shortly, holding his wand protectively.

“Then can you do a spell?” she asked eagerly. Harry hesitated, and then turned towards the door, and waved his wand in front of it. Dean was paying attention now. Harry turned back towards them, and held his wand in front of them.

“ _Expecto Patronum,_ ” he said, and from the end of his wand, a silver stag burst out. It walked around the room for a few seconds before it vanished, leaving the room a bit darker. They all gaped at him, before Charlie actually squealed.

“Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t believe it’s real. Oh my god, the entire world is real, and everyone in it,” Charlie rambled.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean muttered. Sam just continued to gape. Harry put his wand away, and looked back at Tessa.

“What do you mean my life is a fictional book series?”

“Your seven years at Hogwarts, or rather, your six years at Hogwarts and your extended camping trip, is a series of seven books,” Charlie answered. Harry paled.

“I have to destroy those books,” he said panicking. Dean and Sam exchanged smirks.

“Good luck with that,” Charlie said. “About 450 million copies of the books have sold, not to mention the various ebooks online.” Harry looked like he was starting to hyperventilate.

“Welcome to our world,” Dean said, smirking at him. Harry looked at him, confused, and Sam cut in.

“Our lives are also a series of books written by someone,” Sam explained.

“What’s it like to have 450 million copies of your lives around the world,” Harry asked, desperate. Dean stopped smirking, and Sam awkwardly cleared his throat. Charlie started to laugh.

“Not that many copies of their books actually sold,” she said, pulling out her phone, and typing something. “You also have eight movies, by the way,” Charlie added, putting her phone away. Harry looked like he was about to faint.

“Why are you guys together?” Dean asked, in an attempt to get away from the topic about their own books. Tessa looked at Harry, who sighed. Harry frowned slightly as her thought of what to say. Charlie gasped.

“Wait, does this have to do with the Hallows?” she asked. Harry gaped at her.

“How did you know about─ Wait, let me guess, it was in the book?”  Harry said dully. Charlie nodded.

“You have the Deathly Hallows right now?” Sam asked. Harry nodded.

“Unfortunately,” Harry muttered. “You have no idea how many times I’ve tried to get rid of it, but they kept coming back.”

“So that means you’re the Master of Death?” Sam asked slowly. Harry nodded, but muttered something under his breath that they couldn’t catch.

“Wait, so does that mean you control Death?” Dean asked, his eyes widening a little.

“Nope.” Dean blinked.

“What?”

“You just said that you were the Master of Death,” Sam said. Harry groaned as Tessa laughed.

“The way he explained it to me was that if it was called _‘Master’_ of Death, then people would actually try to unite the Hallows, since _‘Servant’_ of Death isn’t really that appealing,” Harry said. Dean stared at him.

“So does that mean you just became Death’s Bitch?” Dean said slowly. Harry glared at him. While Charlie and Sam snickered, Harry grabbed his wand again, and aimed it at Dean. Flicking it, Dean began to tap dance around the room. Shoving his wand back into his pocket, Harry turned towards Sam.

“I really don’t want to stay here any longer,” Harry said, He reached into another pocket, and pulled out a letter. Walking forward (and Tessa followed him), Harry avoided Dean, and handed Sam the letter.

“What is this?” Sam asked.

“A letter,” Harry deadpanned. Sam gave him a blank look.

“Who is it from?”

“Death,” Harry said simply.

“Why did he give us a letter?” Harry shrugged.

“Read it to find out,” Harry said. Sam gave a pointed look towards Harry, and Harry reluctantly grabbed his wand again, and ended the jinx on Dean. Harry laughed as Dean stumbled to the ground. Tessa looked amused as she turned towards Harry.

“I have to get going now,” she said. Dean looked up.

“You’re leaving?” he asked.

“I have other tasks that need to be done. I was only here to direct Harry to you guys.” Tessa turned towards Harry. “Until next time,” she said. Harry nodded, and she handed back the iPad, and let go of his hand. A moment later, Tessa disappeared.

“She has to be in contact with you to be visible?” Sam asked, curious. Harry nodded. A sudden beep was heard, and they all turned to stare at Charlie.

“I have to go pick up something, so none of you guys go anywhere, especially you,” she said, directing the last part to Harry. Dean slowly got up, and joined Sam to read the letter. Charlie quickly left the room, and Harry awkwardly stood in the middle of the room. When Harry started to curse under his breath, Dean looked up to see Harry tapping on the iPad. Looking to see Dean staring, Harry flushed.

“What, this thing is hard to use,” he muttered. “Sod off,” Harry said, when they started to snicker. Just when Harry thought about leaving, Charlie raced into the room, carrying a big bag. She pushed the bag into Harry’s arm, causing him to stumble.

“Do not look into that bag until you get back.” She then pressed a notebook into his hand. “You _will_ get everyone’s signature, especially H’s─ Hermione’s signature, got that?”

“Yes?”

“Good,” Charlie said satisfied. Harry somehow managed to dig out his wand, and shrunk everything, so he could carry it easily, and hurried out of the room without looking back.

“I think you scared him,” Dean said.

“Next time he’s here, call me,” Charlie said, pinning them with a serious expression. “I’m going to try to convince him to take me next time.”

“Are you even allowed─”

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been wanting to see Hogwarts?” Charlie said, cutting Sam off.

“As long as I have. I’m guessing you were also waiting for your Hogwarts letter when you were eleven, right?” Charlie nodded.

“What was in the bag?” Dean asked. Charlie smirked.

“Oh just the entire book series as well as all eight movies. I had someone get them for me,” she said, innocently. Sam laughed, and Dean grinned.

“You are amazing,” Dean said.

“I know,” a smug Charlie said. She then sobered a little. “If the Harry Potter world is real, then I wonder what other world’s are real…”


	3. Chapter 3

Raising an eyebrow at the apparent meeting place, Death quietly slipped inside the closed pizza place. Glancing around the empty restaurant, Death continued to move towards the back of the restaurant until he spotted the occupied table. Sam, Dean, and Harry sat at the table, with the Winchesters on one side and Harry on the other side. The table next to them was piled with assorted food, both Wizarding food and food from fast-food places. When Death got closer, he noticed that the three of them were glaring at each other. Almost positive that things didn't go smoothly, Death approached the table covered with food, and took a seat. He cancelled the invisibility spell on him.

"Please keep in mind that I'm a busy person, so do please hurry up," Death said, inwardly smirking a little when they all jumped in surprise. Death reached out to grab a burger and a bottle of butterbeer. Noticing that the three of them were still staring at him, he raised an eyebrow. "What are you waiting for? Start."

"So when you─"

"And then, that─"

"These two had─"

"But then this guy─"

"So I totally─"

"Enough." Death was pleased to see that they all fell silent at once. "You," he said, pointing at the Winchesters, "start."

"Uh," Dean started, "so we got your letter, and you told us to investigate the deaths of those people who were killed before they were scheduled to die by some rogue reaper."

"So we came up with a plan," Sam continued. "We decided that we'll go into the people that died, while Harry, here, was going to look into the rogue reaper. We were trying to see if there were any connections between the two."

"So like always," Dean said, relaxing a little, "we went into town like we always do, to talk to the families of the victims. As it turns out, Harry had already went and talked to them." At this point, Dean glared at Harry. "You seriously almost gave us away," he hissed at Harry, who glared right back. "Look, the _muggle_ world changed a lot last time you were here─"

"You prats," Harry said, "stop blaming me for your screw ups." Death took a silent deep breath and prayed for patience. "I helped you guys. I got them to trust me, and mentioned you guys, so it would be easier for you to get information from them." Dean snorted.

"We don't need your help," he said.

"What happened after you questioned them?" Death asked, picking up another burger.

"Well, initially, there didn't seem to be any connections, but looking even further back, I found that some of them did have some connections with one another-"

"Excuse me, we were the ones that found that," Dean interrupted, indicating both Sam and himself. “Don't forget that, _kid_ ," Dean continued, causing Harry to glare at him. "You just helped out with the research."

"That's not what happened," Harry said hotly, "it was the other way around." Death quietly sighed. The loud rustling from the paper bag in Death's hands had them staring at him while he ate. After finishing the chips, he opened a bottle of butterbeer, and motioned for the Winchesters to continue. Dean smirked at Harry, who ignored him, but Death noticed that his right hand was twitching. He probably wanted to reach for his wand.

"Anyway, after we interviewed the families, we headed to the library, which was where we found Harry." _'And most likely where Dean and Harry began arguing,'_ Death thought to himself. "Since he didn't look busy, we asked him to help, and he reluctantly agreed─"

"Hey, wait! I was the one who asked you guys for help, since you two were fooling around." Death slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Dean, Sam, please finish."

"In the library, we looked into the background of the families, and we've had to search for hours before we found anything worthwhile. After a couple of hours, we did find out that some of the families were related to one another, and other people shared a common ancestor─" Harry cleared his throat. Death looked at him.

"If Dean continues 'explaining', it's going to take forever," he said. "We eventually found out that everyone involved always had some relative that either died or disappeared every other generation; probably to stay out of the radars of the reapers. When we went far enough back, we found out that they all had a common ancestor, so we switched focus onto that family in particular. Sam was in charge of researching that family, while Dean and I looked to see if there were any other descendants that haven't been targeted yet─"

"And we found a family that was still fine," Dean cut in. Harry stared at him, and then immediately silenced him.

"As I was saying, there was still a family that hadn't been targeted, so I decided to stand guard over them─" Dean banged the table in front of him. Death debated whether or not to unsilence him. Knowing that he was probably going to regret it, he waved his hand, and removed the silencing spell.

"I'm the one that suggested that we guard them!" Definitely regretted it.

"Still doesn't change the fact that you were basically useless," Harry said, crossing his arms.

"I was still pretty useful for someone who couldn't see who we were fighting." Death slowly turned towards Harry, who was suddenly sweating a little.

"If you were in physical contact with Harry, then you would have been able to see the reaper. Harry should have known that." The Winchesters slowly turned their heads towards Harry.

"What?" Dean said slowly. "Why the hell didn't you say anything?"

"Oh please, who would be fond of walking around and fighting while you were clinging onto them?"

"Hey! I can name plenty of people who'd─"

"Shut up, Dean." Death stared back impassively, shutting down Dean's glare.

"Sam, continue." Sam gave two of them a look, before continuing.

"I figured that maybe that common ancestor may have done something to the reaper, like maybe angered him-"

"How did you even find out?" Harry asked, cutting in. Death adjusted his grip on his cane. Sam cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I... er... borrowed your iPad to look up some information that normal records wouldn't have, and made the connections there." Death looked at Harry.

"Harry, you're supposed to have that tablet on you at all times."

"I didn't know he had it," Harry muttered. "When did you even take it?" Harry asked Sam.

"While you and Dean were arguing."

"Which time?" Dean muttered. He then smirked at Harry. "You had all that information on you, and you couldn't even put it all together."

"For Merlin's sake, I'm not Hermione! But if Hermione could've helped─"

"No," Death said, cutting him off. Harry sighed, and Dean and Sam exchanged glances. He glanced at Sam, since he was the only (somewhat) calm one of the three. "Sam, continue."

"I looked up the reapers, and found the one that was supposed to reap the ancestor, but for some reason, didn't. Another reaper was sent in instead, but it was after the guy had a child." This was starting to sound familiar to Death.

"What was the name of this reaper?" Sam thought for a moment.

"Francis." Death mentally sighed. So it was _that_ reaper.

"Do you know him?" Harry asked.

"He was a reaper that had became mentally off balanced enough to warrant being taken off active duty, and being moved to information collection."

"I think I remember one of the others telling me about it," Harry said.

"Hold up," Dean said. "This whole reaper thing sounds like some kind of a business. Information collection? What, do you guys have offices or something?" Death and Harry both stared at him.

"Where do you think information on who should be reaped comes from?" Harry said. Dean coughed.

"I figured that it just... you know, came to you guys."

"How does that all work?" Sam asked. Harry opened his mouth, but Death cut him off.

"Uninvolved parties aren't allowed to know more." Sam visibly deflated. "However, if you do want to know more, you could always become reapers yourselves."

"Is that even possible?" Sam asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"It is, but it involves a person having to die, and _stay_ dead, but since you can't even accomplish that, you'd have a hard time becoming one." Sam sighed, and sat back down. "However," Death added, "if you want to stay dead, don't hesitate to come to me and ask."

"Jeez, you totally weren't trying to imply something," Dean muttered under his breath.  

"Before we get side tracked again, _someone_ should finish." All three of them sensed his annoyance. Sam took over quickly.

"Since this Francis guy seemed to be involved, I told Harry about him, hoping he would recognize him, but he only heard the guy’s name before, and he didn’t know what he looked like.”

“Very helpful,” Dean said. The other three glared at him for interrupting, and Dean mumbled something, before leaning back into his seat. Sam continued.

“When we were guarding the family, Harry told us when the reaper showed, and since Harry was the only person who could see him,” Harry flushed when everyone looked at him, “he dealt with the reaper, while Dean and I got the family out of the house. Harry was fighting the reaper with the Elder Wand, and the reaper, according to Harry, was fighting with a small scythe. Dean guessed where the reaper was, and distracted him a little, which allowed Harry to overpower him.” Death turned towards Harry.

“Did he ever give any reason why for his actions?”

“I did question him a little,” Harry said. “Francis just said that he was furious that the man had gotten away from him, and when he learned that the guy had a kid, he promised himself that he was going to fix his mistake, since they weren’t supposed to exist.” Death sighed outwardly this time.

“Where is he now?”

“At the usual spot,” Harry replied. Death glanced at his table. All the food was finished, so he decided to get up, and stretch his legs.

“That’s fine. I’ll take care of the rest by myself.”

“Hang on,” Dean said, “if those descendents weren’t supposed to be alive, then why stop that reaper? When Balthazaar unsunk the Titanic, Fate went around killing all of the descendants of the people on board. What’s the difference?” Harry shrugged.

“I was just following orders,” he said, glancing at Death. Sam and Dean also looked at Death for an explanation.

“The difference between the two events was that the sinking of the Titanic already happened. That angel purposefully went back in time to change that event. In this case, Francis didn’t do his duties correctly, which allowed the creation of a descendent who wasn’t supposed to exist. What happened, happened. That is the difference.”

“Really?” Dean asked.

“That and there was a brief discussion about it, and it was decided that there was no harm in letting the kid stay alive,” Death added. Dean and Sam gaped at him. Death started walking towards the door. “Since we’re done, I have other business to attend to. Harry, make sure you hand in your report.”

“I got it,” Harry muttered. Death turned himself invisible, but stayed back.

“You have to write reports for him?” Dean asked, amused. Harry groaned.

“Please don’t remind me,” Harry muttered.

“It really is like a business,” Sam muttered. “Anyway, what did you mean when you said that guy was in the usual spot?”

“I meant that some other reaper came and took him somewhere,” Harry deadpanned.

“You meet the other reapers often?” Dean asked. Harry nodded.

“It’s pretty much in the job requirements, though it gets really annoying, really quickly,” Harry muttered.

“Why?”

“They all, or at least the ones I’ve worked with, treat me like a little kid or a baby. Some of them even coo at me!” Harry said, putting his face in his hands as Sam and Dean started laughing.

“So you’re basically like their baby brother. That’s how some older siblings like to act. Sammy can vouch for that, right Sammy?” Dean said, grinning at the look on Sam’s face. Harry stood up, and stretched his limbs.

“I have to finish that report, so─”

“Before you go, take this.” Dean handed over a USB drive to a confused Harry. “You do know how to use this, right?” Harry snatched it from his hand.

“Of course I know how to use it!” he said heatedly. “What’s on it?”

“It’s a gift from Charlie,” Sam said, trying to keep the grin off his face. Harry scowled.

“I still haven’t forgiven her. I’m still creeped out that my life is a fictional series here, and what the bloody hell was up with those movies? We don’t look anything like those people! And some of that stuff never happened!”

“Really?” Sam said, curious. “Then how big of a difference was it?”

“Huge, though some people do look kinda similar to the actors that played them,” Harry admitted. “So what’s on this?” Harry asked, waving the USB drive.

“Fanfiction,” Dean said with a straight face. Harry frowned.

“What?”

“Fanfiction,” Sam said, somehow keeping the grin off his face.

“I heard you the first time. Just what exactly is it?”

“You’ll find out when you see it,” Dean said evenly.

“According to her,” Sam said, “it’s divided into different categories, with the biggest one being, ah, _slash_.” Harry looked at him blankly.

“You lost me.”

“Just look at it when you get home,” Dean said hastily. Still confused, Harry pocketed the flash drive, and nodded at them, and left the restaurant. Death stood to the side as he passed, and as soon as he was out, Sam and Dean burst out laughing. Shaking his head, Death followed Harry out.


	4. Chapter 4

"No case again," Sam said, tossing aside another newspaper. Dean raised an eyebrow from behind his coffee cup.

"Again?"

"Yup, nada," Charlie said from the other side of the table. She closed the screen of the laptop, and pushed it away from her.

"Did something happen?" Dean muttered.

"I don't understand why that is a bad thing," Castiel said. He was seated further down the table, and had also set aside the newspaper he was looking at.

"It's just odd. Something always happens─"

"I agree with Cas, stop questioning a good thing," Charlie said, grinning at Castiel.

"Uh, thank you."

"So," Charlie said, turning towards Sam and Dean, "hear back from Harry yet?" Castiel frowned.

"Is he the one from those books?" Sam and Charlie turned to stare at Castiel.

"You read the books?" Sam asked incredulously.

"I was curious, so Dean let me borrow his copy─"

"Dean's copy of the books?" Charlie repeated, laughing. "So you actually did go out and buy the books!"

"I─I got curious," Dean defended. "If the kid is going to keep popping in, I figure I should learn some things about him." Dean turned around to refill his cup to avoid their stares. "The movies left out a lot things," Dean added conversationally.

"No kidding," Sam said, still grinning.

"That's why the books are important," Charlie said.

"Yeah, yeah," Dean muttered.

"How'd you like the series, anyway?" Sam asked, turning back towards Castiel.

"It was interesting. Odd, but still interesting."

"Totally not vague," Sam muttered.

"Did you know about there being a whole bunch of other dimensions?" Charlie asked.

"I was aware of it," Castiel admitted. "The universe is vast, and there are an infinite number of worlds that exist. I just wasn't aware of anyone being able to move between the dimensions."

"Well, it seems that reapers can," Sam said.

"Even now, I couldn't tell you what they are capable of. We angels have greatly underestimated the reapers for ages. I apologize for that," Castiel added, turning to face the corner of the room.

"I don't mind." Everyone in the room turned towards the corner of the room.

"Who are you, and how did you get in here?" Dean demanded, dropping his cup onto the table and pulling out his gun. Sam quickly stood up, and pulled out his as well.

"To answer your first question, my name is Evangeline, like the messenger of good news," Evangeline said cheerfully, adjusting her glasses. "As to how I got in, I just popped in." Dean and Sam exchanged bewildered glances before looking back at her. Castiel cleared his throat.

"It seems that she is a reaper," Castiel said, and Evangeline grinned. Dean and Sam slowly put down their guns, and stared at her. She was dressed in all black business attire with black pinstripe pants, a white dress shirt, and a black waistcoat. Her shoulder length black hair was tied back, and around her neck was a heavy looking brass medallion.

"Harry's not here, so how can we see you?" Sam asked.

"It could be that medallion," Castiel muttered. "There's an odd energy around it."

"What does the Chosen One want?" Dean asked, picking up his coffee again. Evangeline frowned.

"He didn't send me," she said, patting her clothes, clearly looking for something.

"Then why are you even here?" Evangeline ignored him, and pulled out a small orb with a small "Aha!" She tossed the orb in their direction, and before any of them could react, a black powder was released, and everyone, with the exception of Castiel was knocked out.

"I guess I should apologize for the rough treatment, but I need them to clean up a mess they made, so I'm borrowing them," Evangeline said, answering Castiel's unasked question. He looked like he wanted to protest, but thought better of it.

"Will they be hurt?" he asked, keeping a hand on his angel blade as Evangeline approached Charlie's unconscious body, and drew something on her forehead with a sharpie marker.

"If they clean up their mess, then they'll be returned unharmed," she said, repeating the same thing on Dean and Sam's foreheads.

"What mess did they create?" Evangeline didn't answer him, and muttered something, and a moment later, she and the other three vanished from the room, leaving Castiel by himself.

••••••

With a groan, Dean slowly sat up from where he had been lying on the ground. He quickly looked around to get his bearings, and reached for his gun, only to find the holster empty. He crawled towards Sam, and quickly shook him while raising an eyebrow at the mark on his forehead.

"Sam! Hey, Sammy." Sam began to move, and Dean stood up, and walked towards Charlie, and shook her as well. When Charlie began to stir, Dean looked around the room again. "Where the hell are we?" Charlie looked around, and gasped.

"Dean, Sam, look!" she said breathlessly. They both turned around, and stared at the wall behind them.

"Wait, isn't that the─"

"The Black Family Tree!" Charlie finished excitedly. "That means we're in Grimmauld Place!" The door to the room opened, and Evangeline entered, muttering something to herself while wringing her hands together.

"Why did you kidnap us?" Dean demanded. Evangeline pulled out a scythe and pointed it towards them, and Sam and Dean immediately tensed up.

"I have no idea what you did, but upstairs, Harry's currently in fetal position, traumatized, and all I was able to get out of him were the words fanfiction and your names."

"So we actually are in Grimmauld Place!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Wait, fanfiction?" Dean asked.

"The ones we gave him?" Sam added, glancing at Dean.

"So you guys did do something!" Evangeline shouted, brandishing the scythe again. Sam held up his hands.

"Okay relax. Calm down. Whatever happened to Harry, we'll try to help, just put down the scythe," Sam said slowly.

"If you don't fix him, I will reap you guys."

"Can you even do that?" Dean said. "I'm pretty sure it isn't our time to die yet, and you'll get in trouble if you screw up that balance. The last reaper that did that got taken away─"

"Oh shut up," Evangeline grumbled, but she did put down the scythe, and Dean smirked.

"And since when do you reapers carry those scythes─"

"I'm dealing with you Winchesters, so I needed to borrow it─"

"So you stole it?" Dean asked, outright grinning.

"Shut. Up." Sam coughed to cover up a laugh.

"So is Harry upstairs?" Sam asked, stepping between them. Evangeline nodded.

"Don't worry, we're on it," Charlie said, slipping out the door. Evangeline blinked, and looked back at Sam and Dean.

"Why does she look so happy?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Do you not know about the series?"

"What series?" Evangeline demanded, looking between the two of them.

"Never mind," Dean said. Evangeline still looked suspicious, but turned around, and headed towards the door.

"Follow me," she said. They left the room, and encountered Charlie, who was standing at the stairs, staring at a blank patch of wall near the entrance.

"What's wrong, Charlie?" Sam asked.

"Mrs. Black's portrait is gone," she said. "I thought it was permanently stuck there."

"How'd you know there was a portrait there?" Evangeline asked, putting a hand on her scythe. Charlie glanced at Dean, who gave a short shake of his head.

"Harry told us," Sam said quickly.

"Yeah," Charlie said, "so what happened to it?" Evangeline eyed the three of them suspiciously.

"When Boss and I got here─"

"Boss?" Dean repeated.

"You mean Death?" Sam asked. Evangeline nodded.

"Anyway, when we got here after my promotion─"

"Promotion?" Evangeline blushed.

"I just got promoted from office duty..." she muttered.

"Office duty sounds boring," Dean said. Evangeline nodded quickly.

"It was horrible, and I swear I almost fell asleep there at least once a day."

"And you got promoted to...?"

"Field duty!" she said cheerfully. "I'm out and about, and help souls move on─"

"Move on to where?" Sam asked casually. Evangeline smirked.

"Trade secret. Now can you guys please go upstairs and fix Harry before─"

"Wait, you never said what happened to Mrs. Black!" Charlie said.

"Ugh, fine! When we got here, that woman started shouting, and Boss got annoyed and got rid of it. Happy now?" Evangeline said, crossing her arms.

"How’d he do that?" Charlie asked. Evangeline stared at her.

"Really?" she deadpanned. "I have no idea," she admitted a moment later. "I wasn't around when he did whatever he did. She was screaming one moment and the next, there was silence. Now can we go?"

"Give us our guns back, and we'll go," Dean said, and Evangeline resisted the tremendous urge to punch everyone.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. She turned around, walked back into another room, and came back out with a stack, and tossed it at Dean's feet. Evangeline impatiently tapped her foot as Dean and Sam grabbed their guns and knives. "Good now?"

"Actually─"

"Oh jeez, what now?" Charlie cringed a little, but continued.

"I really want to head downstairs and check out the kitchen. I want to see where they held the meetings─"

"We're going upstairs, and you are going to make Harry un-traumatized, got it?" Evangeline said with a smile, holding her scythe against Charlie's throat.

"Got it," Charlie said quickly.

"The same goes for you two," Evangeline said, brandishing the scythe in Sam and Dean's direction. "I may not be able to reap you guys, but I can kick you where it hurts." The two of them winced. She gestured towards the stairs with the scythe. "Everyone, upstairs, now!" When Evangeline was halfway up the stairs, the sound of gunshots had her jumping, and glaring at them.

"That cabinet started shaking," Dean defended. Evangeline glanced at the cabinet in question, and sighed at all the gunshots. She turned around, and jumped again when there was more gunfire, this time at the shaking curtains. Evangeline stalked back towards Dean, and snatched the gun from his hands.

"Upstairs. Now." Evangeline now made sure everyone got upstairs first before following them.

"Wait," Charlie said, stopping in front of a door. "Isn't this the room of Regulus Black?"

"It is," Sam said. He opened the door, and to Evangeline's chagrin, everyone walked in.

"Seriously guys? It's almost sun down!"

"So?" Dean asked, examining the photos displayed on the dresser.  "What does that have to do with anything?" Evangeline nibbled on her lips.

"Just stop wasting time and help me. You promised you would!"

"Actually, we didn't," Sam said, scanning through the books that were on the shelf. "We just said we would see Harry."

"He's traumatized! Shouldn't you guys be slightly more concerned about him?!" Evangeline shouted.

"Dude, it's just fanfiction," Dean said, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe we should go check on him," Charlie said uncertainly. "It could be something serious..."

"Yes, please listen to the Ginger." Charlie stared at Evangeline.

"I have a name you know." Evangeline nodded.

"Fine then, Miss Middleton─"

"Fine, just call me Ginger," Charlie said quickly. Dean and Sam turned towards her.

"Middleton?"

"Is that your last name?"

"Let's just go," Charlie said. Evangeline cheerfully opened the door, and pulled out her scythe again.

"Anymore detours, and I'll reap you, even if I get in trouble. Do I make myself clear?" Everyone nodded, and Evangeline marched them upstairs. Stopping outside a door, Evangeline hurriedly put the scythe away, and softly knocked on the door. "Harry?" After a minute with no answer, she sighed, and turned the doorknob. Glancing at each other, Dean, Sam, and Charlie entered the room, and looked for Harry.

"Oh, maybe it is actually bad," Charlie muttered. Harry had wrapped himself in a blanket from the bed, and curled up in the corner of the room, while staring into the air.

"Harry," Evangeline said again, approaching the boy. "How are you feeling?" Harry's lips moved, but no words came out. Evangeline glanced at them. "Do something!" she mouthed. Dean and Sam stared at Charlie, who, after getting the hint, approached the traumatized wizard. Crouching down next to Evangeline, Charlie cleared her throat.

"Um, Harry? Sorry about all the fanfiction," she started, "I didn't think you would take it this badly. They’re really just stories that people write, and you really shouldn't take them too seriously." Harry blinked and turned to look at Charlie. She and Evangeline held their breaths as Harry stared at Charlie.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Charlie was forced to crawl backwards as Harry screamed, and attempted to push Charlie away. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" Evangeline tried to calm him down, as Dean helped Charlie up.

"He doesn't have his wand on him, does he?" Dean asked. "No need for him to start throwing spells around."

"He doesn't have The Elder Wand," Evangeline said in a low voice, as Harry started muttering under his breath about fanfiction and being unable to look at anyone in the face anymore. "You guys made it worse!" she hissed at them.

"How were we supposed to know?!" Dean hissed back. "If he reacted like that to Charlie, he sure as hell isn't gonna like us." Evangeline placed her head in her hands and groaned.

"I am _so_ getting demoted," she mumbled.

"And stealing a scythe won't?" Dean said, raising an eyebrow.

"Dean..." Sam said with a sigh.

"You wouldn't get demoted just for this," Charlie said.

"This was the only reason I had gotten the promotion in the first place," Evangeline said, her voice muffled by her hands.

"Huh?"

"You got promoted just to deal with Harry being traumatized?" Sam asked. Evangeline nodded.

"Boss came to the offices last week asking if anyone wanted to find a way to 'fix' Harry─ his words, not mine─ and since most people didn't want to do it, I volunteered. That was when he promoted me. Then he said I could keep the promotion if I could get him better, because Boss is going to end up needing him soon," Evangeline said. Charlie sat next to Evangeline on the bed, and patted her back.

"Why didn't anyone else want to help him?" Dean asked, glancing at Harry. Evangeline glanced at Harry as well and then shrugged.

"No idea," she said, staring at her hands. "Do you have any other ideas?" Charlie and Dean stared at Sam.

"How about taking him to St. Mungos?"

"Take him where?"

"The wizard hospital here in the city," Sam clarified. "It's not too far─" Evangeline snorted.

"Like that wouldn't be awkward," she said under her breath. Dean looked at her curiously.

"Why?"

"Are you kidding me?" Evangeline rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's it..." She turned on her heel, and approached Harry. Crouching down again, she grabbed Harry by the collar and began to violently shake him. "SNAP OUT OF IT POTTER!!!! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLLY BE TRAUMATIZED BY A BUNCH OF CRAPPY STORIES!"

"Okay, that's enough," Dean said firmly, grabbing Evangeline's arm when she began to slap him. "That sure as hell isn't going to make things any better─" Evangeline pulled her arm away, and glared at him.

"You guys didn't have any better ideas!"

"Sam suggested that wizard hospital!" Dean yelled back.

"What the hell am I going to say? ‘Potter here read some fanfiction-thingy about people he knows, and is now traumatized?’"

"She has a point, Dean," Charlie said slowly. "It's Harry Potter we're talking about. People are going to start questioning about what caused it and will start looking into it, and something tells me that Death isn't going to be too pleased about it..."

"And besides, it's not like we could get in... we're muggles," Sam continued, "and Evangeline's a reaper. She could get in, but then there's the matter of people looking into who she is, and─"

"Okay, okay, I get your point," Dean said, throwing his hands up. "But attacking him isn't going to solve anything.”

"Don't reapers have their own stuff they can do?" Charlie asked.

"We do, but we need permission to do select things, and permission is given on a case by case basis," Evangeline explained.

"And this doesn't warrant permission?" Sam said, gesturing towards Harry. "Isn't he working for Death himself?"

'Well, yes, but the supervisors are─ er─ strict about giving out permission..." Evangeline said, trailing off.

"Why?" Charlie asked curiously. "This is the Master of Death. Shouldn't that be an exception?"

"Well, it should, but you know, rules are rules..."

"You mentioned earlier how none of the other reapers wanted to help out Harry..."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Evangeline asked. Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Do reapers have something against wizards?" Dean asked bluntly. Evangeline cringed.

"What? Where did you get that idea from...?” She trailed off when Dean raised both of his eyebrows. "Not exactly..." she muttered. "They're just wary ever since three wizards humiliated one of our own, and stole the artifacts, or what they called the Hallows."

"Three wizards...?" Sam muttered.

"Are you referring to the Peverell brothers?" Charlie asked.

"I think that was the name," Evangeline said.

"Were those the guys from that wizard fairytale?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam said. "I thought that in the story, it was Death himself who appeared in front of them." Evangeline shook her head.

"That reaper was the Second. He reported directly to Boss himself, and worked solely under him─"

"Like Harry is right now?" Dean asked. Evangeline nodded.

"The Second was highly respected among everyone, so when everyone heard that he had been humiliated by wizards, everyone got angry, which is kinda where the… wariness for wizards comes from," she explained.

"Why was he called the Second?" Charlie asked. "Was he literally the second reaper, or─"

"I'm pretty sure it was because he was the second in command," Evangeline said, frowning a bit. "I could be wrong though... No one is a hundred percent sure of that..." Evangeline then glared at them. "Are you guys done interrogating me?" Sam awkwardly laughed.

"Sorry, we were just curious."

"Wow, it's getting pretty late," Charlie commented. Evangeline froze, and then ran to the window, and threw open the curtain. The sun had long since set, and Evangeline's stomach dropped.

"I am _so_ fired."

"Wha─ oh, you needed Harry to get better before sundown..."

"And I can see that you clearly failed that little task." Evangeline cringed, and the other three turned towards the entrance of the room. With his ever present cane and wearing a long black cloak, Death stood in the room, and examined Harry, who had wrapped himself in his blanket, and planted himself in the corner again.

"I─I'm sorry, sir. I tried, but nothing I did made Harry respond. I thought I'd bring the Winchesters and Milton here to help, since it was their fault in the first place, but it may have made him worse," Evangeline babbled. Death held up a hand, and she fell silent.

"Besides failing to complete your task, you also stole a scythe and the medallion, both of which you didn't have authorization to have," Death said.

"B─But I was dealing with the Winchesters─"

"That doesn't change that you broke the laws." Evangeline flinched, and looked at the ground.

"Hey, she tried her best. She even kidnapped us to help out the kid. She may be annoying and threatened us a lot, but go easy on her," Dean said, approaching Death. "How was she supposed to do anything to help them, when she doesn't have the freaking _authorization_ to do anything?" Death assessed him momentarily, before facing Evangeline, who quickly looked towards the ground again.

"Fine, I'll make my final decision later. But for now..." Death walked towards Harry, and set aside his cane, before reaching for Harry with both hands. Placing his fingers on each side of Harry's head, Death muttered something under his breath. Harry's eyes widened, and with a small gasp, his eyes closed, and he became unconscious. "Sam, please place him back onto the bed," Death said, standing up, and grabbing his cane. Sam quickly obliged, and easily picked Harry up, and placed him on the bed. After hesitating for a moment, Sam shook out the blanket, and placed it over the unconscious Harry. "Evangeline?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Follow me." Shaking a bit, Evangeline glanced at the others before leaving the room, and following Death downstairs. After glancing amongst each other, the three of them also followed after them. Finding them at the entrance hall, the three of them stopped at the foot of the stairs. Evangeline shot them a quick glare, but faced Death again when he started to speak. They realized a moment later that Death must have done something, since they couldn't hear anything at all. After a few minutes in which both of them had clearly mastered the art of keeping a poker face, Death raised his cane, and the sound came back. "Until next time," Death said, nodding to the group at the stairs. With a swish of his cloak, Death disappeared from their sight, and Evangeline's shoulders dropped, and she groaned.

"What did he say to you?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing you guys need to know."

"Then do you know what he did to Harry?" Sam asked.

"Erased his memory apparently," Evangeline said. "He won't remember this whole incident, so don't you dare remind him of anything," she said sternly.

"We won't," Charlie reassured.

"Good, and now─"

"WHY ARE THERE BULLET HOLES IN MY WALLS?!" Everyone turned and stared at Harry, who was standing at the top of the stairs.

"He did it!" Evangeline shouted, pointing at Dean. Before Dean could say anything to her, she pulled off the medallion, and vanished from view.

"Dean..." Harry growled. Dean swallowed, and took a step back.

"Now, uh, Harry. It was an honest mistake-"

"You are _not_ getting away with this..."

••••••

"Umm..."

"Not a single word, Cas," Dean growled. Castiel kept his mouth shut as Dean marched past him furiously. A giggling Charlie slipped into the seat next to Castiel.

"Don't worry," Charlie said, "Harry promised to send us pictures."

"Pictures of Dean?"

"Before he started wiping the stuff off," Charlie said.

"Oh," Castiel said, not knowing what else to say.

"To be honest, Harry really should've done something with his clothes too," Evangeline said from behind them, making Charlie and Sam jump. "At least the color is waterproof." Castiel nodded in greeting, and Evangeline nodded back.

"What are you doing here?" Sam said, when he recovered. Evangeline grinned widely.

"I'm here to announce that I am now your new liaison between you, Harry, and the Boss!" she said cheerfully.

"Liaison?" Sam repeated.

"Yup!"

"What?!" Dean came back out of his room, and was glaring at her. "There's no fucking way I'm going to work with you. Because of you, a still crazy Harry did this to me." Dean gestured towards the neon paint still on his skin and hair. "I thought you said you took his wand away!"

"Boss did take the Elder Wand away," Evangeline said, crossing her arms. "I never said anything about his other one." Dean growled, and went back towards his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Um, well, congratulations on keeping your job," Sam said.

"Thank you," Evangeline said grinning. She looked at the watch on her wrist, and pulled out a small notebook. "Looks like I have a soul to pick up. See you guys!" Evangeline tugged off the medallion, and disappeared from view. The smile on Sam's face dropped, and he helplessly looked at the other two.

"Are we seriously going to work with her?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because Sydni, my beta, is freakin amazing, I kinda created Evangeline (which I kept spelling as Evangelion when I was first typing it) with her in mind.
> 
> She also manipulated me into making this fic have an actual plot, which means more chapters for you guys... (go yell at her) The previous chapters are still important because they have background info and what not, but yeah, there is now a plot
> 
> Just in case anyone is curious, with regards to the Supernatural timeline, I actually don't have a set period of time where all this would take place... the bat cave was obviously already discovered, but the fall isn't currently a problem, so idk... For the HP world, Harry's around 20ish...
> 
> Also, in the latest SPN episode (Stairway to Heaven), the whole Tessa thing irked me (like she was treated like and died like an angel with the grace thing, etc), so whatever information about reapers that appeared in that episode, I am ignoring it. I'm sticking with the whole you have to be dead/dying (or with Harry XD) to see reapers, and reapers don't associate with angels unless absolutely necessary. They obey Death, and a bunch of my other headcanons that you'll read about in this fic
> 
> (Finally, I realized I haven't mentioned it before, but how the whole reaper system works, I based it loosely on the reapers from Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji. FYI: Evangeline wearing glasses is just a coincidence... Sydni wears glasses IRL) ((For those that are confused, the reapers in Kuroshitsuji all wear glasses, because they have really bad eyesight XD))


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A thank you to sydni (now known as Incandescent_Midnight) for betaing this for me.

Chapter 5

“So remember you four, don’t make a scene, don’t bring attention to yourself, and just try to act like normal wizards,” Harry said as patiently as he could.

“But I don’t kno-”

“You said you read the books! Just act like we did in the books!” Cas closed his mouth and nodded. Harry turned towards Sam, Dean, and Charlie to remind them of their promise, but only saw empty space. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted them running into different stores. With a sigh, Harry turned back towards Cas, but to his annoyance, he was gone too. Massaging his temples, Harry grumbled under his breath, and went after Sam who entered the closest store, Flourish and Blotts.

Sam already had a handful of books in his arms, and was reaching towards a top shelf to grab even more books. Upon seeing Harry’s deadpanned look, Sam glanced down at the books he was holding, and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m… not going to buy all these…”

“You better not,” Harry said darkly. “I’m the one that’s going to end up paying for everything you guys buy.” Harry didn’t like the gleam that appeared in his eyes. “And remember, you guys  _ are _ going to be paying me back… with interest.” Satisfied with the look of horror on his face, Harry grinned, and left the bookstore to go hunt after Dean. He found Castiel in the apothecary, examining the various ingredients that lined the shop, while the shopkeeper hovered behind him, a concerned look plastering his face. Harry paused, thought for a moment, and decided against bothering him.

Harry almost laughed when he saw Dean gaping at the nearest broom model that had come out a few months back.

“Dude, you need to let me have a spin on your broomstick.”

“And have you crash it? Not likely,” Harry said bitingly. Dean frowned.

“Are you still mad at me for shooting up─”

“Yes, I am still annoyed.”

"It was an accident!"

They both stared at each other. Dean opened his mouth, but Harry cut him off. “No.” Dean deflated, and stared longingly at the broom again. “Where’s Charlie?”

“Going from store to store picking up random items,” Dean said, still staring at the broom.

“Do you remember where Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes is?” Dean nodded, and watched longingly as a customer inside purchased one of the new brooms. “Just be sure to get there in an hour.” Dean nodded again, and Harry sighed. Deciding to leave him there, Harry walked down the alley peeking into each store until he spotted Charlie carrying a bunch of bags. Spotting Harry, she grinned and skipped towards them. Before Harry could say anything, Charlie grabbed his arm.

“I need more money.” Harry mentally groaned.

“You spent everything I gave you?”

“Well, yeah,” Charlie said. “I’m in Diagon Alley, a place I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. Of course I’m going buy everything I can.”

“You do know that you guys are going to be paying me back, right? With interest,” Harry said, really regretting that he agreed to loan them money.

“Yeah, I know,” Charlie said nonchalantly. Charlie was holding out her hand, and Harry begrudgingly handed over more money. Beaming, Charlie skipped away, and Harry massaged his temples again.

“Oh hey Harry-”

“Let me guess, you need more money?” Harry said, staring at the bag in Sam’s hand. Seeing that it was so small, Harry was willing to bet that Sam had purchased enough books that they needed to be shrunk.

“Yeah… But don’t worry, I’ll pay you back.” Sam added, seeing the expression on Harry’s face.

“Yeah, right,” Harry said under his breath. Nevertheless, Harry handed over the money, and Sam walked off, humming cheerfully. Why did he have to babysit these people? Needing to see a familiar face, Harry went ahead, and headed towards WWW. He needed to tell George the cover story that the quartet were American wizards that he had to escort around the UK wizarding world on orders of his boss.

“You seem more stressed out,” George said the moment he walked in.

“Is it that obvious?” Harry asked. George nodded.

“I’m surprised you haven’t gotten white hair yet.” Harry responded with another groan. “So, what is it that you do?”

“Even when I’m sleep deprived and stressed out, I still won’t tell you,” Harry said, and George grinned.

“It was worth a shot. Maybe one day, you’ll ingest some veritaserum, and answer my questions then.” Harry warily eyed the half drunk cup of tea that George had served him before looking up at George. George looked back innocently. Harry pushed the cup away slowly, and George snorted. "You can finish that cup. I swear I didn't put anything in there."

"Right..." Harry said skeptically.

“Oh Harrikins, you know I would never do that to you,” George said, fluttering his eyelashes, and Harry could practically see a halo over him. Laughing, Harry finished the rest of the tea, and as he set down the cup, George dropped a heavy pile of papers onto the counter, startling him.

“What’s that?” Harry asked, eyeing the stack warily. His “job” was starting to make him nervous around large amounts of paper.

“Inventory.” George grabbed the first sheet off the stack, and handed it to Harry, while elbowing the rest of the stack off the counter. Harry didn’t hear a crash, so he raised an eyebrow, but George just gestured to the sheet instead. Harry glanced down the list.

“Are these new items?” George nodded.

“Wanna check them out?” Harry glanced at his watch. He still had a half hour to kill.

“Sure.”

  * •••••



Nearly an hour later, after countless messes to clean up, countless runaway items to hunt down, and attempting to explain away the sounds of explosions, Harry swore to himself he would never help George with WWW inventory ever again. That place was almost a war zone.

Harry entered the public area, expecting to see the four of them either waiting for him (unlikely) or trying out everything they saw. To his surprise (and annoyance), they still weren’t there.

“Where are they?”

“Hm, what time did you tell them to show up?” George asked, rolling up rolls of parchment he was taking notes on.

“A half hour ago,” Harry grumbled. 

“So, these people work with you…?” George asked innocently. Harry mentally sighed. He had to George some answer, or else, he might keep digging, and discover something he shouldn’t know.

“Kind of… I’m giving them a tour of UK’s wizarding world, and in return, they’re going to give me a tour of the states.”

“So they work for the American Ministry?”

“... Yes,” Harry said, hoping George didn’t notice his pause. He also hoped George wasn’t to going to ask them anything about American wizards. Their cover would be blown immediately.

The bell above the door chimed, and George turned towards the door.

"Is that one of them?" Harry turned, and made eye contact with Sam, who awkwardly walked in first. Being a good head and a half taller than the other customers, made him stand out quite obviously.

"You’re late," Harry said when Sam made his way to where he and George were.

"Yeah, I know. I got distracted. But, on the bright side, I got enough to last for a bit." Harry glanced down and saw two more small bags in his hands.

"Remember, you guys have to-"

"Pay you back later. Yeah, I got that."

"With interest," Harry reminded him.

"With interest," Sam repeated. There was an awkward pause as Harry pointedly stared at the door. “I’m sure the others will be here soon.” Sam looked past Harry, and after glancing around for a moment, paused for a second before giving an awkward nod and smile to George, and then wandered off to an aisle.

"That was weird," George commented. Harry nodded, and was thankful that Sam wasn't obvious in the way he unconsciously looked for Fred. George didn't need that right now. "Are they all dressed as muggles?"

"Well, they do interact with muggles on a regular basis. They said that was a lot easier than walking around in robes."

"So you work with muggles too," George said stated. Harry quickly turned to face George. “I’m going to take that as a yes,” George said with a grin. Harry just sighed. The doorbell ringing again had both George and Harry turning. Harry got ready to start expressing his annoyance, but instead of the rest of the quartet, it was Ron and Hermione. Harry’s annoyance promptly vanished, and smiling, he approached them.

“Harry!” Hermione raced forward to embrace him. “How have you been?”

“How’s work?” Ron asked, grinning.

“I’ve been alright,” Harry said, answering Hermione’s question, and completely ignoring Ron’s question.

“Give up, Ron, I already tried asking,” George said, walking by. Ron deflated, and looked at Harry.

“Are you sure you can’t─”

“Sorry Ron.” The door chimed again, and  _ finally _ , the rest of the quartet appeared. Both Dean and Charlie were talking animatedly, and Cas was looking around the store curiously. “Where were you guys? I told you to be here over a half hour ago!”

“Relax, we didn’t wander off,” Charlie said, brushing off his concerns. “There are so many stores, how were we supposed to visit them all in under an hour.”

“They didn’t do anything they weren’t supposed to do,” Cas added. Harry frowned, but decided to drop the subject.

“Who are they?” Hermione asked, approaching the group. Ron followed her, and was looking at them, bewildered.

“Oh my god,” Charlie said, gaping at Hermione. Charlie immediately began checking her pockets, and once she found a mini notebook and pencil, she thrusted both of them at Hermione. “CanIpleasehaveyourautograph?” Hermione blinked.

“What…?”

“I already got you her autograph,” Harry said impatiently.

“Oh, an autograph? Sure!” Hermione took the offered notebook and pencil and drew a flourishing signature on the page before handing it back. Charlie took it, and immediately turned towards Ron, who looked surprised, but clearly pleased. Sam, with his own notebook, immediately took her place, and Harry groaned.

“I already got you their autographs, so leave them alone,” Harry said, glaring at them.

“In person autographs are better,” Charlie said, walking towards a surprised George.

“It’s fine, Harry,” Hermione said. “Besides, they're your coworkers, so-”

“They can't tell you anything,” Harry said in a deadpanned voice. Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Besides, it's a nice change of pace,” Ron said with a grin. “Usually it's  _ you _ people hound for autographs.”

“They've become disillusioned with me,” Harry said.

Harry turned his attention towards Dean and Cas, or rather just Cas. Dean was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go?” Harry asked, turning to Cas.

“He saw them and ran,” Cas said. Cas then looked at Ron and Hermione curiously. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” Harry opened his mouth to protest, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dean sneaking away. Hoping Cas doesn’t accidently reveal anything he isn’t supposed to, Harry followed after Dean, who was hiding behind one of the shelves.

“Why are you hiding?” Harry asked.

“I’m not hiding,” Dean said quickly. Harry stared at him, and then glanced back towards Ron and Hermione, who were now joined by Sam and Charlie, talking animatedly about something.

“You’re not going to ask them for their autograph?”

“How could I? I can’t just go up there. I don’t even know what to say to them?” Dean blurted out. Harry looked at him alarm.

“Dean, are you feeling okay?” Harry asked slowly.

“What? Of course I am,” Dean said, looking offended. Harry sighed. This day needed to be over with already.

“Just hurry up, and get what you want. We’re going to be leaving soon.”

“Already?” Dean asked.

“I never promised to make this trip a long one,” Harry pointed out. “Besides, Death’s probably going to be summoning me soon, and there’s no way I’m leaving you guys here by yourselves.” Dean opened his mouth to protest. “Don’t make me call Evangeline.” Dean shut his mouth immediately.

“I’ll be done soon,” Dean said quickly. Harry nodded, and Dean quickly walked away. To be honest, Harry would definitely  _ never _ call Evangeline unless the fate of the world depended on it, but Dean didn’t need to know that. Harry made his way over to where the others were, and tapped Charlie on the shoulder.

“Are you guys ready to go? We’re leaving now,” Harry said. Charlie blanched.

“What? I didn’t get a chance to get anything yet,” Charlie protested.

“Then hurry up.” Both Sam and Charlie ran off, and after a pointed look from Harry, Cas took the hint, and headed to where George was, explaining something to Charlie.

“They really do act like muggles,” Ron said.

“What were you guys talking about?” Harry asked.

“They were asking about the war,” Hermione said. “Specifically, they were wondering about the aftermath…”

“The aftermath?” Harry repeated. “Oh yeah, it’s not mentioned in there…” Both Ron and Hermione were looking at him curiously, and Harry decided to change the subject. They did not need to know about the books. “How’s everyone doing?”

“Everyone’s doing well. Percy got promoted the other day, but who cares; Ginny won some more games, and Mum’s been pestering me about dragging you back to the burrow, since it’s been forever since you stopped by. You will stop by soon, right?” Ron said.

“Of course,” Harry said quickly. Both Ron and Hermione beamed at him. “Have you guys picked a date yet?”

“Er, not yet,” Hermione said, glancing at Ron. “It’s been busy at the Ministry, so we haven’t gotten a chance to find another date…”

“Please don’t keep postponing the date of your own wedding,” Harry said with a groan. “This is important, you know?”

“Of course we know. We’re not in any rush,” Ron said, smiling at Hermione. “And don’t worry, best man, you’ll be the first to know when we decide.” Seeing both Ron and Hermione looking so happy warmed Harry’s chest. Harry made a mental note to ask around for potential honeymoon locations for the two of them. Maybe Fleur would know?

Remembering that he was still “babysitting”, Harry looked around to see what they were still doing. Cas looked to be checking out, but the other three were still browsing. Figures.

“They really do act like muggles,” Ron repeated. “Are all American wizards like that? Do they not wear robes at all there?”

“Er…”

“Harry,” Hermione said slowly, “are they muggles?”

“Um…”

“Harry!”

“Okay, they are muggles, but they - er- work with the American Ministry of Magic─”

“Magical Congress of the United States of America,” Hermione interrupted.

“What?”

“They’re not called the Ministry; that’s what they’re called,” Hermione said.

“Oh,” Harry said. He didn’t know that. “Anyway, they’re apart of the - er- Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, and they were really curious about the UK, and so, here we are.” Both Ron and Hermione were gaping at him.

“But they’re muggles. How are they able to do anything? Especially something that dangerous?” Hermione said, looking over at the quartet with a worried expression.

“Oh, they aren’t by themselves,” Harry reassured her. At the very least, Cas, the angel, was with them… sometimes. “Anyways, they are quite resourceful, so don’t worry about them too much.” Ron glanced at them uncertainly.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” he asked. Harry nodded.

“It’s safe, trust me. But at the same time, could you guys keep this a secret?” Harry asked.

“Of course we will,” both Ron and Hermione said in unison, and Harry smiled in return.

“And you,” Hermione began to say, approaching Harry and prodding him in the chest, “promise me you won’t do anything dangerous or illegal.”

“Of course I’ll try to avoid that,” Harry said with a little laugh. For his “job”, nothing dangerous  _ should _ happen. Hermione was frowning, but she seemed to accept his words, and took a step back. She glanced at her watch.

“We have to head out soon,” Hermione said to Ron. “You gave George the invite, right?”

“I did.”

“Invite?” Harry asked blankly.

“Did you not get a letter from Luna?” Hermione asked. Harry stared at her blankly. No, he didn’t get anything from Luna - Oh wait, he probably did. Harry hadn’t checked his mail in a few weeks, so it was probably in there. “Have you checked your mail recently?”

“I’ll check it soon,” Harry reassured her. Harry made another mental note about checking his mail. Ron was slowly shaking his head.

“Seriously mate, are you okay? Is whatever you’re doing stressing you out that badly?” he asked, looking concerned. Harry frowned a little. He didn’t want them to worry.

“It’s not my job, but some of the people I work with… are interesting, but completely off their rocker.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked quickly.

“Well, not too long ago, two of those guys,” Harry said, gesturing behind him towards the quartet, “were doing a job involving - er - experimental fire crabs, and this one...  _ coworker _ of mine thought that it’d be interesting to take them to another area where there was another bigger infestation, and just left them there. She also released the other ones from earlier. Her excuse was that they needed more “experience”.” Both Ron and Hermione were horrified.

“Did she get in trouble?” Hermione asked.

“She got lectured,” Harry said dryly.  _ ‘Along with me,’ _ Harry added mentally. Evangeline wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near that area, let alone interact with the Winchesters to lead them to that vampire nest. But because she was supposed to be with Harry, Harry had gotten lectured too… for an hour.

“That’s something someone would get fired for…”

“I know, Ron,” Harry said with a sigh, “but there’s not much I can do about it.”

“But-”

“I’ve held you guys back long enough,” Harry said. “Let Mrs. Weasley know that I’ll stop by later this week for dinner.” Hermione still seemed like she wanted to protest, but she still gave Harry a hug, and Ron thumped him on the back.

“I’ll let her know,” Ron said. After a few more goodbyes, Ron and Hermione left the store, and Harry headed towards the register area to see what was taking everyone so long. Turning the corner of an aisle, Harry accidently knocked into someone who heading for the door.

“Sorry,” Harry said, quickly, grabbing the person’s bag off from the floor, and hoped that nothing was broken.  “I’m really sorry about that,” Harry said again. He handed the bag back to the person, who was gaping at him.

“Harry Potter!” Harry mentally groaned. Not another one.

“Yes, that’s me. Uh, did something in there break?”

“No, everything is alright,” the guy said, without looking in his bag. “I’m so glad for this opportunity to meet you!” Harry forced himself to smile at the guy. He didn’t look too old, maybe late 20’s at least. Dressed in crisp robes, and looking carefully groomed, this guy didn’t seem to be the type to be into prank stuff. “May I shake your hand?” Harry mentally sighed.

“Er, sure.” Harry held out his hand, and the person earnestly shook his hands.

“My name is Armand. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter,” the guy said.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Harry said. “I’m sorry about this, but I’m in the middle of something-”

“Oh, of course,” the guy said, letting go of his hand. “Thank you for humoring me. Have a pleasant day.” The guy smiled, sidestepped Harry, and left the store. As the door shut, Harry let out a deep breath. He really hated when that happened. That was why he usually avoided going into Diagon Alley without a glamour. He should’ve worn one today. Continuing his path towards the register, Harry saw that the quartet already had all of their stuff, but were watching George demonstrate one of the new products Harry was pretty sure had been the cause of the explosion chain in experiment room. Harry stepped up behind them and cleared his throat.

“Sorry George, we have to get going,” Harry said. Cas raised his hand.

“One last question. I thought those two spells together couldn’t work, because it would be unstable and potentially cause an explosion? So why would you choose to purposefully combine two spells that could potentially cause explosions?”

“That’s a very good question. If not handled carefully, it can explode. In fact, it completely blew up earlier,” George said cheerfully.

“And you plan on selling that to people?” Sam asked, staring at the inconspicuous box in George’s hand.

“Of course there’s going to be more testing put into this before we put it out for sale, but the testing phase shouldn’t take too long.” Harry snorted. That thing definitely wasn’t going to be ready to sell for quite a few months.

“Anyway, we’re leaving,” Harry told them. Grumbling, the quartet grabbed their bags, and headed towards the door.

“You know,” George walking up towards Harry, and standing next to him, “I wish all muggles were like them.” Harry blinked. Did he ever tell George that they were muggles (and an angel)? “It was pretty obvious,” George said, answering Harry’s unasked question. “They do know a lot though.”

“It is kind of their job,” Harry said. George laughed, and thumped him on the back.

“Don’t forget to stop by for dinner. And don’t forget about Luna’s invite either.”

“I won’t,” Harry said with a sigh. He really hoped he didn’t forget. They wouldn’t forgive him otherwise. “Thanks for talking to them.”

“Of course. Now get back to your babysitting.” Harry rolled his eyes, but headed towards the door. With one last wave, Harry left the store, and stepped into the brightness of Diagon Alley. Harry headed towards a small alleyway between WWW and the building next to it, and found three fourths of the quartet showing off everything that they got, while Cas examined his own items. Curious, despite himself, Harry resisted the urge to ask and grabbed something from around his neck. Pulling out a medallion, Harry held it out, but only Cas reached out to touch it.

“You’re going to bring us back here again, right?” Charlie asked.

“I won’t make any promises,” Harry said. Charlie pouted, and reached out to touch the medallion.

“I really REALLY want to talk to her again─”

“She doesn’t know you. She just thinks you’re a fan.” Charlie deflated.

“One day,” Charlie muttered under her breath. Sam slowly shook his head, and reached out and touched the medallion.

“Come on, Dean,” Sam said, “Do you want to stay here?”

“Let me borrow your broomstick,” Dean asked, staring at Harry.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll end up destroying it.”

“I promise I won’t,” Dean said. Harry thought for a moment. If this argument went on any longer, the portkey will activate, and Dean would be stuck here. Harry would have to come back for him, and none of that sounded appealing to Harry.

“If all of you pay me back, with interest, I promise I’ll consider it. Now come here, and touch the medallion or else, I’ll send Evangeline here to pick you up.” In a moment, Dean had a tight grip on the medallion. A minute later, the medallion glowed, and the five of them disappeared.

  * •••••



“When did this happen?”

“I-I don’t know sir. They guy who discovered it hasn’t gotten back to me yet,” Audrey babbled. Audrey cringed when Death frowned, obviously not pleased with her response. Death headed towards the center of the crater, and knelt down to examine the charred remains of quite a few bones. “He was wrapped up in that?” Audrey asked. “It looks kind of fragile…”

“I created the prison from human bones, and infused them with spells of my own design. It was designed to keep him in there, and worked for this long. So no, it wasn’t fragile at all.” Audrey gulped, and wished she just kept her mouth shut.

“R-Right. Sorry sir.”

“Someone broke him out, and I want to know who. Notify Trent and his team that they are to examine every inch of this place, and any important discovery that they make are to be reported to me. Understood?” Audrey nodded quickly.

“Yes, sir, I’ll pass the message on to Trent.”

“Good.” Death surveyed the area one last time, before turning on his heel, and walking away. Audrey looked back over the area as well. Before, acres of lush rainforest covered the area. But now, the green was replaced by gray, and only charred bones and trees were left. There were no signs of life here anymore. Saddened, Audrey hurried up after Death.

“Uh, sir, should we inform Harry Potter about what has happened?” Audrey asked. Death stayed silent, and after a few minutes, Audrey thought Death wouldn’t answer. However, he stopped walking, and Audrey almost walked into his back.

“No,” Death said after a few minutes of thinking. “Don’t say a word to him.” Audrey waited a few moments, but Death didn’t say anything else.

“Understood sir,” Audrey said uncertainly. She didn’t think it would be a wise move, but who was she to question her boss?

They were still lacking information, so until they learned more, anything they think of will just be speculation.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think there's much I can say to apologize for my long absence, but I really am sorry for keeping you guys waiting... not just for this fic, but all my other fics. A lot of real life stuff happened, and is still happening, which keeps distracting me, but I am trying to get everything in order. Once again, I'm sorry, and I can at least promise the next chapter will not be a year later.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... where do I even start with this...? To start, I kept my promise, and updated in less than a year, YAY! Real life has been such a pain in the ass, and has been severely interrupting my ability to write, so I apologize for that. A main chunk of this chapter had been written like back in November... of 2014. Due to some personal and family issues, I couldn't finish it in time for the holidays, so I thought I would try it again this past winter. Considering it's May of 2016 at the moment, you can guess how that worked out. In order for me to continue on with the this story, I'm just going to put this up now rather than wait for the holidays (aka continue to keep editing this because I'm still not satisfied with it), so I can work on the next chapter.
> 
> So please enjoy this "Christmas" Special ^_^ (just a warning, it's kinda crackish, but it has its slight plot relevance towards the end)
> 
> *a thank you to Sydni (Incandescent_Midnight) for betaing this for me and making sure that this got done*

Chapter 6

 

“You’ve really reached a new low here, Dean,” Sam said. Charlie, who was standing next to him, nodded. Cas, who just walked in, glanced at Dean, who was standing on the other side of the table in the main room with his arms crossed, completely ignored the others. Cas then turned back towards Sam and Charlie with his head tilted. The two of them didn’t respond to Cas’ unasked, yet obvious, question.

 

“What did I miss?” Cas asked, turning back to Dean.

 

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened,” Dean said, not looking at Cas. Dean hesitated a moment, then crossed the room, and headed out the door to where the bedrooms were located. Cas stared at Sam again, who just sighed.

 

“Dean is being an idiot again,” Sam explained. Cas raised an eyebrow.

 

“What did he do… this time?” Sam just shook his head and headed out of the room, though through a different door than Dean went through. Charlie came up and patted his shoulder before heading through the door Dean went through, leaving Cas in the room by himself, still completely confused as to what happened in the half hour he had been gone.

 

  * •••••



 

Dean frowned in his sleep and turned around on the bed, trying to get comfortable again. His memory foam mattress didn’t seem like it was really remembering him. Dean opened his eyes, and, while groaning, attempted to punch his pillow into shape, except…

 

“When the hell did I get a window?” Dean gaped. Through the window, he saw that it was lightly snowing outside. Sure it was December, but the forecast never called for snow in the coming week. Dean looked around the room. All the weapons, all the photos that he spent nights painstakingly putting up and rearranging, were all gone. In their place were paintings of landscapes, some old-fashioned looking cloth covering over old-fashioned looking furniture, with old-fashioned looking lamps and photos covering the surface. Dean closed his eyes and pinched his arm. Waiting a moment, he opened his eyes, and to his disappointment, he was still in that room (which somehow smelled like old people). Does that pinching your arm trick even work?

 

So, either Dean was having some weirdly realistic dream, or he was transported to some other location while he was asleep. Dean was still wearing the clothes he fell asleep in, but unfortunately, the knife he always kept under his pant leg wasn’t there. Damn. Dean stood up, and headed for the door. At the last moment, Dean detoured to the table, and picked up the unplugged old-fashioned lamp to use as a weapon.

Approaching the door, Dean cautiously opened it, and glanced out into the hallway. Not seeing anything potentially threatening, Dean entered the hallway. Aside from a couple of doors, and a set of staircases heading down at the end of the hallway, the hallway was wooden and bare. The sound of fire crackling and the flickering shadow on the wall were enough of an indication to Dean that he wasn’t alone. Gripping the lamp even tighter, Dean quietly approached the staircase, and headed down the stairs into what appeared to be a sitting room. An old red and ornate high backed armchair faced the fireplace. Dean did a quick glance around the room. Old peeling floral wallpaper covered the surrounding walls, and aside from the armchair, the only other furnishing in the room was what looked like a dark dining room table.

 

“Who’s there?” Dean said sharply.

 

“Oh, you’re finally awake?” That voice sounded familiar. Dean’s stomach dropped. It couldn’t be. A sudden sound snapped Dean from his thoughts, and he watched in disbelief as the huge armchair turned around on the spot. A loud metal on metal screech was heard coming from the bottom of the chair. Dean dropped the lamp, and groaned, and placed his face in his hands.

 

“Oh god, why?” In the chair, Evangeline, in her usual business attire and wearing a dumb santa hat, was seated in the chair, grinning up at Dean. “Why are you here?!” A look of realization crossed Dean’s face. “You caused this weird dream, didn’t you?”

 

“There’s nothing weird about this,” Evangeline shot back, dramatically crossing her legs. Dean rubbed his eyes.

 

“I have no idea what you’re planning, but just return me back to my own head please. I’m not in the mood right now,” Dean said tiredly.

 

“Are you ever?” Evangeline asked. “Besides, I put way too much planning into this to stop now.”

 

“And what exactly are you planning?” Dean turned around, and both Sam and Charlie were standing there. Sam was looking very annoyed, and Charlie was looking at Evangeline curiously. Dean was torn between worry and relief. He wasn’t stuck by himself here, but they were still here at the mercy of this fucked up reaper. Son of a bitch. Evangeline grinned and held up a heavy looking book. On the red cover, in a large gold font were the words: A Christmas Carol.

 

“It’s time for the Christmas special!” Evangeline said cheerfully. Silence met her announcement.

 

“It’s not Christmas yet,” Sam deadpanned.

 

“But it’s less than a week away,” Evangeline protested.

“But,” Charlie cut in, with a quick nervous glance at Dean, “real Christmas specials always happen on Christmas Day, so this can’t count…” Dean held back a snort. Really? No offense to Charlie, but there was no way this reaper was going to fall for─

 

“Really?!” Evangeline had stumbled out of her chair, grabbed Charlie’s arms, and was staring at her earnestly. “Is that true?!” Dean’s jaw dropped. She actually fell for that? “I haven’t seen much of the TV you humans watch, so I’m not really familiar with that…” Evangeline trailed off, and looked quite depressed. Charlie opened her mouth, but behind Evangeline, Sam was waving his arms to get Charlie’s attention, and was nodding his head furiously.

 

“Y-Yes, it’s true. I’m sorry about that…” Evangeline became even more crestfallen, and Charlie awkwardly patted her back.

 

“I had everything ready,” Evangeline mumbled. “It was perfect…” Dean shook his head, and started to grin.

 

“Oh well, looks like you can’t do this now,” Dean said, clapping his hands. “So you have to return us back to our regular dreams now.”

 

“But I worked so hard on it…” Evangeline mumbled. Dean didn’t feel any pity. A sound of wings had them all turning around to face Cas.

 

“How’d you end up here?” Dean asked. He didn’t think reapers had the ability to influence angels. Either way, Dean hoped he would be able to take them back.

 

“When you guys disappeared from your rooms, a trace of your presence was left behind, so I followed that, though I'm not entirely sure where we are now,” Cas said, as though it explained everything. It didn't.

 

“Wait, when we _disappeared_?” Cas nodded.

 

“You mean we aren’t dreaming?” Sam asked. Dean spun around and glared at Evangeline.

 

“You said we were dreaming!?”

 

“Did I say that?” she said, examining her nails. Dean’s eye twitched.

 

“Can you take us back?” Dean asked Cas quickly.

 

“I don’t know,” Cas said slowly. Cas glanced at Evangeline and flinched. With a dark aura surrounding her, Evangeline was glaring at Cas. “What?”

 

“Seriously, what can and can’t you guys do? I swear if you do anything that deus ex machina’s this story, I’m going to be _pissed_.” Evangeline hissed out that last part, and Cas actually took a step back. “I’m going to make sure you don’t interfere with my story.” Cas looked away, and Evangeline gave a self-satisfied smirk. She then looked behind them, and her smirk widened. Dean heard a set of footsteps behind him, and turned around. A second later, Dean snorted.

 

“Nice PJ’s.” Harry tried to glare back, but in his sleep deprived state, the result was not in the slightest bit threatening, and everyone in the room sniggered. Harry held back a yawn, and turned to glare at Evangeline.

 

“I can’t believe you went through with this insane idea,” Harry said, holding back another yawn. Evangeline smiled cheerfully.

 

“You shouldn’t have doubted me,” she said. “And because you did, I decided to have you join us as well.” Harry snapped out of his sleepiness, and gaped at her.

 

“You’re joking…”

 

“Since we established that you can’t do a Christmas special, can you let us go?” Evangeline ignored him.

 

“Okay, I get it. I-It’s a nice plan. A nice idea. I believe you, so can you let me go back to sleep now?” Harry pleaded.

 

“No can do,” Evangeline said. Dean sighed, and Sam, Cas, and Charlie glanced at one another.

 

“Can you send us back?” Sam asked.

 

“No.”

 

“But it’s not Christmas,” Sam explained. Evangeline frowned, and stared at the book in her hand.

 

“I mean, if it was a Chanukah special, then it would be a different story─”

 

“Chanukah?”

 

“Yeah, a Jewish holiday. Right now, we’re actually in the middle of Chanukah, or rather, it’s ending…” Charlie trailed off. Sam, Dean, and Harry were glaring at her. Charlie opened her mouth to ask why, before it hit her. Oops. Charlie glanced back at Evangeline who was staring at her in amazement. She tossed aside her Santa hat, and beamed at Charlie.

 

“You know what. You’re actually helpful. I’m not going to make you suff─uh─have fun like those guys.” Dean could see Charlie consider the offer, and Dean rolled his eyes when Charlie agreed.

 

“Charlie…”

 

“What?” Charlie said defensively. “I’m just trying to look out for myself.”

 

“Time to get started!” Evangeline said. Before anyone could say anything, the area around them turned black. Thankfully, it only lasted a moment. However, when the darkness disappeared, Dean was by himself in that room. The armchair and the dining room table were gone, as well as Sam, Charlie, and Cas. Scratch that, just Sam and Charlie.

 

"Do you know where they are?" Dean asked Cas, who had just appeared.

 

"Damn angel, I was hoping you were stuck outside," Evangeline's voice echoed around them. "Seriously, it pisses me off. What can or can't you guys do?"

 

"Believe me, the feeling’s mutual about you reapers," Cas said, frowning a little. Dean cleared his throat.

 

"Where's Sam and Charlie?" Dean asked.  

 

"Well, I'm here with Harry and Evangeline, but I don't where Sam is." Dean and Cas both looked around to see where Charlie was.

 

"Charlie?" Dean said sharply.

 

"You can't see us... apparently?" Charlie said uncertainly. Her voice seemed to echo around them as well, but was definitely coming from above them. "And Sam should be nearby, according to Evangeline." Dean massaged his temples. He _so_ was not in the mood for this. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

 

"Perhaps he's outside?" Cas suggested. Dean turned and looked around for a door, but all he found were windows and the hall that led back up.

 

"They need a door," Charlie said.

 

"Fine," Evangeline said. Dean looked around, and one of the windows showcasing the snowy world outside started to darken. Seconds later, a simple wooden door took its place. Dean didn't even hesitate to approach it, and threw the door open. Despite it snowing rather heavily, Dean, still in his lounge pants and a simple t-shirt, wasn't cold at all. He experimentally held up a hand to catch a snowflake.

 

"It's warm," Cas said, mimicking Dean’s movements.  

 

"You can't even make it snow properly!" Dean shouted, looking towards the sky. He must look like an idiot.

 

"Hey, it’s good enough to create the proper atmosphere!" Evangeline shouted back. Dean ignored her, and started to walk towards the street. With the place being obviously abandoned, and the appearance of heavy snow falling, the entire area looked really creepy.

 

“Sam!” he called out. Cas went in the other direction, and also called out Sam’s name. After a few minutes of walking around and not seeing anyone, Dean doubled backed, and headed towards the area Cas had gone to look.

 

“Who is that?” Dean heard Harry say. Dean stopped walking, and stared up into the sky. He waited for someone to say something, but when no one did, Dean got annoyed.

 

“Who else is here?!” he shouted. There was no response.

 

“Dean?” Dean froze. He knew that voice.

 

“Bobby?”

 

  * •••••



 

“Who is that?” Harry asked, looking out the window of the room they were in. Charlie stood next to him and peered out.

 

“Bobby, I think?” Charlie said slowly. “He was pretty much a father figure to them.” Harry noticed the ‘was’ and winced.

 

“That’s really cruel,” he said to Evangeline. Evangeline stared at him blankly before turning back to her book. Harry frowned, and turned back to Charlie. “Have you ever met him?”

 

“Once,” Charlie said slowly. “He… saved me from a monster, but at the time, he was a ghost─”

 

“He saved you as a ghost?” Charlie nodded. “For you guys, ghosts can become corporeal?”

 

“If they are strong enough, yeah,” Charlie said. Harry looked out the window, and watched Sam, Dean, and Bobby’s reunion thoughtfully.

 

“He stayed behind after he died… for them, right?”

 

“I think so,” Charlie said, “but he had to move on.”

 

“The dead shouldn’t interact with the living,” Evangeline said from her seat.

 

“But it still happens,” Harry said. “Take now for example, you’re screwing around with the Winchesters. So much for the dead not interacting with the living.” Evangeline ignored him, and continued going through the book in her hands. Harry had half the mind to take it away from her, but maybe the WInchesters needed this reunion.

 

“Did you find out about Bobby from the books?” Charlie asked, filling in the awkward silence that formed.

 

“Yup.” Harry looked between the two of them.

 

“What books?” Harry asked. Charlie laughed.

 

“They also have books based on their lives,” Charlie said. “It’s called Supernatural, and it’s by Carver Edlund.”

 

“From what world did those books come from?” Harry asked, making a mental note to get his hands on those books. Harry needed blackmail material on those two.

 

“The books aren’t from a different world,” Charlie said. “They were published here, and they’re also available online. I’ll download the series for you when I get a chance.” Charlie thought for a moment. “Wait, don’t you always carry a tablet with you?”

 

“Usually, since Death told me to, but I didn’t go to bed with it, so I don’t have it…, but anyway, how are they able to walk around undisguised and do their hunting without people finding out?” Harry asked.

 

“Their books really didn’t sell well,” Charlie explained, and Harry snorted. “Because of that, not a lot of people read them, and therefore they don’t know about them.”

 

“How far do the books go?” Harry asked.

 

“You could just read them yourself,” Evangeline interrupted. Both Charlie and Harry turned towards her, and Evangeline pointed towards the bookcase located on the far wall. Charlie and Harry slowly approached it, and sure enough, two of the shelves were filled with the 24 published books of Supernatural.

 

“Well, here you go, you can get started on these, and when we get back, I’ll get you the unpublished ones,” Charlie said. Harry gave Evangeline a suspicious look, but he still grabbed the first book, and settled down to start reading it.

 

“Think I gave them enough time to bond?” Evangeline asked.

 

“Is that what you were waiting for?” Evangeline nodded. Charlie glanced at the book in her hands, and noticed the list. “Since we’re doing A Christmas Carol, you need more people. Who else are you dragging into this?” Evangeline held out the book, and Charlie read down the list, and by the time she reached the final names, her eyes were wide. “You can’t be serious…”

 

  * •••••



 

“So this is definitely a dream?” Dean asked for the tenth time. “We weren’t transported somewhere?”

 

“From what you told me, yes, that’s what it looks like,” Bobby said, still looking incredulous at the whole situation.

 

“So we’re all having the exact same dream and interacting with each other?” Sam asked.

 

“You have a better idea about what’s going on?” Bobby said. “Reapers aren’t God, they can’t just teleport people somewhere and bring people back to life. All they do is take souls, and interact with the living if they have to in order to take their souls.”

 

“I don't know… We really don't know much about them. Besides, they have Harry Potter on their side-”

 

“I still don't believe you about that,” Bobby said, interrupting Sam. “I don't know what you guys have been drinking, but you should stop. And even if he were real, why would he help reapers?”

 

“You read the last book, right?” Sam asked. Bobby stayed silent. “Bobby?” Even Dean was staring at him.

 

“Alright, no, I didn’t read the book.” Dean was surprised, and Sam looked offended.

 

“Really! Even Cas has read the books!”

 

“Uh, Sam, I only read them because I wanted to know more about what you guys and Harry Potter were talking about,” Cas said. Bobby was now looking at Cas in disbelief.

 

“You’re in on this with them too?!” Bobby said, facepalming. “Have you all lost your minds?” The sound of clapping echoed behind them.

 

“Well, isn't this a nice little reunion.” The four of them turned around, and gaped.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead,” Bobby exclaimed.

 

“Aren’t you?” Gabriel shot back. “Anyway, h─” Gabriel vanished, and Dean jumped, and turned around, looking to where Gabriel had gone.

 

“Sorry guys,” Evangeline said, her voice echoing around them, “I sort of jumped the gun on that one.” Evangeline cleared her throat. “Anyway, I gave you guys enough time to talk and stuff, so let’s begin the story.”

 

“You're just beginning?! ” Dean said in alarm. Bobby looked towards Dean.

 

“Is that the reaper you were talking about?” Dean nodded. “And what exactly is she starting?” Bobby asked. Dean didn't respond, and Sam was still staring at the spot where Gabriel was standing.

 

“She had a book titled ‘A Christmas Carol’ she may be referencing,” Cas said, Bobby glanced at Dean and Sam.

 

“So you guys are at her ‘mercy’?”

 

“I believe so,” Cas said. The area around them began to blur and flicker, and Dean groaned. He was not in the mood to deal with this shit.

 

Once the area cleared up, they were back inside the house, and thankfully, the four of them were still together. Aside from the entire situation itself, nothing here _seemed_ hostile, so Dean allowed himself to relax a bit..

 

“And now, we shall begin this tale of redemption, family, and the true meaning of Christmas - I mean Chanukah.” Dean looked at the others with a raised eyebrow, and while Sam and Cas just looked resigned to whatever was going to happen, Bobby was still shaking his head. Whatever happens, Dean was at least glad to have the chance to see Bobby, even if he was just some sort of memory or dream. “In this tale, poor Dean Winchester, with the help of various friends, family, and acquaintances, will learn to become a better person and-”

 

“Wait! Hold up!” Dean shouted. “One, there’s nothing wrong with me, and two, if this has something to do with whatever Sam and Charlie have been saying, they’re wrong. I have done _nothing_ to deserve this torture”

 

“You sure about that, Dean?” Sam said, smirking a little. “You are getting more confrontational lately, not to mention that this morning, you─”

 

“Your drinking is getting to be a problem again,” Cas added.

 

“Are you still diving headfirst into everything?” Bobby asked.

 

“Yes,” both Sam and Cas said, and Dean gave Bobby a look of betrayal.

 

“Well, he wouldn’t be Dean if he didn't,” Charlie said. Dean huffed.

 

“I do think my plans through,” Dean said, “sometimes…” he added under his breath.

 

“So,” Sam started, awkwardly staring up into the sky, “is this when you somehow showcase all of Dean’s past mistakes?”

 

“Nope,” Evangeline said. Dean snorted.

 

“She’s reading through a copy of _A Christmas Carol_ , it’s going to be something involving those ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future,” Dean said. Dean glanced at the area where Gabriel had been. She better not be using the angels.

 

“Correct!” Evangeline said. “The ghosts of Chanukah Past, Present, and Future will be the ones to show you─”

 

“Wait, before you start, I have a question,” Harry said, cutting off Evangeline, who then shouted something, but Harry ignored her. Bobby looked at them in confusion.

 

“Who’s that?” he asked slowly. Dean and Sam exchanged looks.

 

“Harry Potter,” Cas supplied helpfully, when it became clear Dean and Sam weren’t going to say anything. Bobby gaped at him.

 

“There’s no damn way that’s Harry freaking Potter,” Bobby said. Harry cleared his throat nervously.

 

“Er, I don’t know what I could say, aside from Dean and Sam have their own book series, in their own dimension especially, so how far-fetched is anything else?” Harry said, a bit awkwardly. “Anyway, back to my question, I don’t know how accurate Edlund’s books are, but in Phantom Traveler, you guys said, _‘Christo’_ to immediately identify a demon without them knowing. Why is that never mentioned ever again? Even now, I have never heard you guys mention, let alone use that, why? Wouldn’t that make things _a lot_ easier when you’re going on jobs?” Dean looked over to Sam who was gaping.

 

“Uh…” Sam looked over to Dean for help, and Dean just shrugged. They both looked at Bobby and Cas, who both looked surprised.

 

“Wait, on the plane, you boys actually tried that?” Bobby asked. “Why?”

 

“Bobby, you were the one who told me that,” Sam said.

 

“It was a joke. After I said to try that, I told you not to, because it wouldn’t work,” Bobby said. Both Dean and Sam were gaping at him now.

 

“I have never heard that before,” Cas said. “A phrase to immediately identify a demon without their knowledge would be well known…”

 

“Can’t you guys already tell if a demon is possessing someone?” Charlie asked from above them.

 

“Yes, we can, under normal circumstances.” Dean assumed Cas meant as long as they weren’t using angel wards or something.

 

“But on the plane, when Dean said it, it worked,” Sam said slowly. “The guy’s eyes turned black, and later, we were able to exorcise him, and the plane didn’t crash.” Now, it was Bobby’s and Cas’ turn to gape.

 

“But that’s impossible…” Cas muttered.

 

“Did you guys ever use that again afterwards?” Bobby asked. Both Dean and Sam shook their heads.

 

“I may have completely pushed that case out of my mind, considering it involved planes and crashing,” Dean said.

 

“You’re afraid of planes?” Cas asked curiously. Dean glared at Cas.

 

“There’s nothing abnormal about fearing planes. Planes crash all the time, even without demon involvement. I’d rather get into a fistfight with a vampire than get on a plane.”

 

“Interesting,” Cas said, clearing considering something. Dean didn’t want to know.

 

“It was really stressful,” Sam admitted. “There were so many people on there, and if we failed, we wouldn’t be the only ones to die; all of them would have, too.” Bobby nodded.

 

“I understand. Next time you guys encounter a demon, remember to try it. If it actually does work, then we just got ourselves a big advantage against them,” Bobby said.

 

“We will,” Dean and Sam said in unison.

 

“So you really just forgot about it?” Harry asked.

 

“Here I was thinking that it was just a plot hole,” Charlie said.

 

“I don’t think that would fit the definition of plot hole, “ Harry said. “Just a mistake, or something the author just forgot about. I wonder if there’s more?” Harry asked. Dean snorted.

 

“Don’t think that your series was perfect either,” Dean said. “In the third book, Hermione was using the Time Turner, and after that book, it’s never used again afterwards.”

 

“We accidently destroyed all the Time Turners!” Harry said indignantly. “It was at the Department of Mysteries…” Harry trailed off, and got quiet.

 

“But that was two years later,” Dean pointed out, getting away from the topic of what happened at the end of the fifth book.

 

“There was the entirety of the fourth book for anyone to use the Time Turner. Hell, it could’ve been used to see who put your name in the Goblet of Fire or something,” Sam pointed out. Harry stayed silent.

 

“Right…” Harry eventually said, clearly sounding depressed, and Dean and Sam winced.

 

“Did you know there were dragons here?” Bobby said awkwardly.

 

“What!?” Harry sounded shocked.

 

“Can I please continue my story,” Evangeline interrupted.

 

“You can continue doing your story thing after this,” Harry said impatiently. “What’s this about dragons, and why use the past tense?”

 

“Well…” Sam started. He looked at Dean and Bobby for help to explain what had happened.

 

“Are they in one of the future books?” Harry asked, when the silence carried on a bit too long.

 

“No,” Charlie said. “The last book Edlund had written was Swan Song which is….” Charlie trailed off, and looked sheepish. “You’ll read about it soon enough,” she said hastily.

 

“Are dragons supposed to be going after virgins?” Bobby asked. Harry choked on air.

 

“EXCUSE ME?!” Dean and Sam looked towards Bobby.

 

“Did you have to start with that?” Bobby shrugged.

 

“I was curious.”

 

“I don’t think dragons do that…” Harry eventually said. “I can ask Charlie─ Ron’s brother about it, but I’m pretty sure they just hunt after any old prey.” Harry sounded a bit disturbed.

 

“Well, the dragons we encountered had a human form, and were trying to get a monster named Eve out of purgatory,” Bobby explained. “The virgins were used for some ritual to help with that.”

 

“Eve?” Harry asked. Cas looked a bit uncomfortable.

 

“Must we bring up Eve?” he asked quietly. Bobby stared down Castiel.

 

“Man up to the mistakes you made,” he said, and Cas looked away guiltily.

 

“Who was─”

 

“Okay, enough intermission,” Evangeline said, cutting Harry off. “Let’s get back to the show.” She sounded irritated. Sam, Dean, Cas, and Bobby looked at each other as they heard the distant sounds of arguing coming from above them.

 

“Okay, absolutely nothing is happening,” Gabriel said casually, standing behind Cas, making him jump.

 

“Are you staying this time?” Sam said. Dean glanced down, and hanging from Gabriel’s neck was a placard that said ‘GHOST OF CHRISTMAS CHANUKAH’S PAST”.

 

“Just ignore the Christmas part,” Gabriel said hastily.

 

“This is totally butchering Chanukah and Judaism so badly,” Sam muttered.

 

“Anyway, let’s pretend this is our first meeting after many years. You guys are looking well, considering... “ Gabriel pointedly looked at Bobby who was dead, Sam who spent a year in hell, and Dean and Cas who had been in purgatory.

 

“Speak for yourself,” Bobby grumbled. “I lasted longer than you.”

 

“You sure about that,” Gabriel said with a smirk.

 

“Are you still alive?” Cas asked sharply.

 

“Of course not,” Dean said. “None of this is real.”

 

“How was rooming with Lucy?” Gabriel asked Sam. Before Sam could say anything, Evangeline cursed, and everyone turned to look up.

 

“How did I forget… I’ll be back in a sec!” There was a few minutes of silence, and then a loud burst of static.

 

“So there’s been a microphone here the whole time,” Charlie said. “So I guess I’ll take over until she comes back.”

 

“Where’s Harry?” Sam asked.

 

“Still reading the books.”

 

“Why did you give him access to the books?” Dean complained.

 

“Hey, it’s only fair,” Charlie pointed out. “You all have read his books, so there’s nothing wrong with him doing the same.” Charlie cleared her throat. “The Ghost of Chanukah’s Past needs to get back to work or he’s fired.” Gabriel rolled his eyes.

 

“Fine, I’ll get back to work.” Gabriel snapped his fingers, and the scene around them shifted and changed, and in the distance, a much younger Dean and Sam appeared, talking amongst themselves. Dean looked around, and it was only when Sam gasped, that Dean realized where and, more importantly, when they were; the night Jess was killed. “Aww, you kids look so young,” Gabriel cooed.

 

“Change the scene, NOW!” Gabriel looked at Dean in amusement, but complied, and snapped his fingers again, and the scene changed again. It was still evening, but now, they were at a crossroads, where a younger Dean was burying a box. This was also something Dean didn’t want to see, so he glared at Gabriel, who rolled his eyes, and snapped his fingers once again. Now, the five of them were at the university, where they had first met Gabriel.

 

“I’m not changing it anymore, so you’re stuck with this,” Gabriel said smugly. He watched in amusement as his past (alive?) self set an alligator on someone.

 

“None of those scenes were on the script,” Charlie pointed out. Gabriel just yawned.

 

“What’s wrong with the scenes I picked?”

 

“Well, according to Evangeline's notes, they were supposed to focus on Dean, and touch upon the mistakes he made in the past, so the present Dean can learn from it,” Charlie said.

 

“Are you at the Ghost of Chr─Chanukah’s Present yet?” they heard Evangeline say from a distance.

 

“We’re not even close to being done with the Past yet,” Charlie said.

 

“What! We’re way behind schedule now! I need time to to tell the story of TIny Tim!”

 

“Was that why you left earlier?” Charlie asked.

 

“Yes!”

 

“Wonder what poor sap ended up playing that part?” Bobby muttered under his breath.

 

“Maybe it could be you?” Sam suggested, hiding a smile. “You were wheelchair bound for a bit. That’s close enough.”

 

“For the record, I just put everyone’s names in a hat, and just picked at random,” Evangeline informed them.

 

“Is this the story?” Charlie asked. There was the sound of paper being ruffled, and a pause. “ _The Tale of Tiny Lucy.”_

 

“Okay, I’m not going to stay for this,” Gabriel said, and a moment later, he vanished.

 

“I’d rather not listen to this either,” Babby said.

 

“Same,” Sam said quickly.

 

“Can you not read that?” Dean asked. “We promise to listen to everything else you have to say.”

 

“I worked hard on this, so no!”  Evangeline said. “Okay, since Ghost of Chanukah’s Past left, I’ll just tell this story now, and─”

 

“Wait, so to summon a demon, you need to bury bones and a picture of yourself at a crossroads?” Harry interrupted. “That’s it?”

 

“There’s a couple more things needed, but those are two of the ingredients,” Sam explained.

 

“Seriously Potter, you’re interrupting me AGAIN!?”

 

“You shouldn’t have dragged me into this then,” Harry said, sounding very much annoyed. Dean turned towards Cas.

 

“I know you already tried, but maybe there’s a way out of this place now that she’s distracted,” Dean said quietly to Cas.

 

“I can try, but I’m not sure,” Cas replied.

 

“Aw, come on now. You're trying to leave just when I get here?”

 

“Balthazaar?!”

 

“The one and only,” Balthazaar said with a wide smile. He then frowned, when Evangeline and Harry’s voices got louder. “Really? Can someone just block them out?”

 

“Hang on, I got it.” Charlie fiddled with something, and both Evangeline and Harry’s voices were gone. “Okay, there, now they’re blocked out. Now, please go through your script quickly. The faster you finish, the closer we are to leaving,” Charlie said.

 

“Who is that?” Balthazaar asked.

 

“A friend, so don’t mess with her,” Dean warned.

 

“Of course,” Balthazaar said. “I will absolutely fully cooperate with you.” Dean knew he wouldn’t.

 

“Balthazaar, I apologize for─” Balthazaar waved away the rest of Cas’s words.

 

“Bygones are bygones. Besides, I’m the Present Ghost; don’t start bringing up the past,” Balthazaar said airily. He then turned towards Dean.

 

“You heard the lady, I’m supposed to show you stuff to make you a better person.”

 

“What are you going to show me?” Dean said wearily. Balthazaar looked thoughtful for a moment, and then walked towards him, and placed a hand on his shoulders.

 

“I know you can do better, Dean,” Balthazaar said solemnly. He then removed his hand, and walked away towards Cas.

 

“Wait! That’s it?”

 

“What, did you want a long lecture?” Balthazaar asked.

 

“No, but I thought there would be more…”

 

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Balthazaar said.

 

“How hard is it for you guys to follow directions?!” In the distance, Evangeline was walking (stomping) towards them, and was followed by Charlie (who was trying to hide a grin) and Harry, who was still in his PJ’s (who looked very much annoyed).

 

“Enough with your damn script,” Harry snapped. Evangeline turned around, and opened her mouth to shout something back, but Balthazaar intervened.

 

“You shouldn’t have picked us ‘rebellious’ angels to follow scripts,” Balthazaar explained to Evangeline. “And you must be the famous Harry Potter.” Harry eyed Balthazaar warily, but still shook his proffered hand.

 

“Nice to meet you….?”

 

“The name’s Balthazaar. Castiel’s old friend,” Balthazaar said.

 

“Who is dead...?”

 

“Who is dead,” Balthazaar confirmed. Harry winced. “The books were okay, but the movies were downright atrocious.” Harry scowled.

 

“I’m trying to forget that they ever existed,” Harry said.

 

“I don’t blame you.”

 

“This entire day has been a disaster,” Evangeline said tearfully.

 

“Serves you right,” Harry said under his breath.

 

“Okay, enough is enough, can we please leave now?”

 

“No…” Evangeline said. Dean groaned. She was beyond reason (if she even knew how to be reasonable). Dean looked towards Harry for help, who frowned a bit, and glanced towards Evangeline.

 

“Fine, I’m really sorry for messing up your hard work,” Harry began to say, and everyone turned to stare at him in shock. “Since you are very behind schedule, how about you just do the Tiny Tim story, and then let everyone leave, alright?” Everyone’s gaze went back and forth between Harry and Evangeline.

 

“But I still have the Future Ghost to do…” Evangeline trailed off, and looked thoughtful for a moment. “But you’re right. It’s been too long. It’s going to wear off soon…”

 

“What’s going to wear off?” Sam asked.

 

“I knew it,” Harry muttered. “You got something from George, didn’t you?”

 

“Okay, I accept your terms,” Evangeline said, ignoring Harry’s last words.

 

“I still don’t want to hear this,” Balthazaar said.

 

“Then leave,” Bobby said. “You’re not stuck here like the rest of us.”

 

“Neither are you,” Balthazaar said smugly.

 

“Just get out.” With a laugh, Balthazaar vanishes. Dean focused back onto Evangeline, who had that Christmas Carol book open again, and was jotting something down.

 

“Just a handful of uninterrupted minutes of reading, and we all can leave, alright? _Something_ has to go right today.” Evangeline looked around at her ‘audience’. “Potter, we need some seats, make some.”

 

“I don’t have my wand on me,” Harry deadpanned.

 

“Why not?!” Harry gave her a pointed look.

 

“Can’t you do wandless spells?” Charlie asked.

 

“No.”

 

“But in the books, both Voldemort and Dumbledore had-”

 

“Do I look like either of them?” Harry said, giving Charlie a blank look.

 

“But you have the Hallows! Doesn’t that give you something?”

 

“I’m Death’s minion,” Harry deadpanned. Both Dean and Sam were exchanging looks.

 

“Ugh, so then so many fanfics have gotten it wrong…” Charlie muttered, and Harry shuddered, even though he didn’t know why.

 

“Okay, everyone is going to stand then,” Evangeline declared, and everyone groaned in unision.

 

“Please just end this,” Harry said. “Death needs me for something later, and he’ll be annoyed if he can’t get a hold of me.”

 

“So you’re going to abandon us,” Dean hissed. Harry shrugged.

 

“You guys have gone through worse things,” Harry said. “You can handle her… kinda.” Dean glared at him. Harry looked towards Evangeline, who was now looking nervous.

 

“Did Boss say that?” Evangeline asked slowly.

 

“Yes,” Harry said, almost too quickly.

 

“Then why didn’t you mention it earlier?” she asked suspiciously.

 

“I… thought you would be done quickly.” Charlie exchanged a look with Cas, who just looked plain old confused, but then began to look around to Charlie’s confusion.

 

“You’re lying, Potter─”

 

“So this is where everyone is.” Everyone froze.

 

“Evangeline, what are you doing?” Everyone glanced down to stare at the short curly haired girl standing in front of Death. From the black clothing she was wearing and who she came with, they all figured that she was a reaper.

 

“Boss! What are you doing here?!” Evangeline said. The _A_ _Christmas_ _Chanukah Carol_ book was nowhere to be seen. Death glanced at Harry, and gave Evangeline a pointed look. “Wait, you were telling the truth,” Evangeline hissed to Harry, who nodded quickly.

 

“Of course I was,” Harry said quickly, not making eye contact with her. He focused on Death. “Please make her stop,” Harry said, almost begging. Death glanced at Evangeline, who pouted.

 

“Fine, everyone say your goodbyes!” That statement was directed towards the Winchesters and Bobby. Death looked towards Bobby, and raised an eyebrow.

 

“You made a memory of Bobby Singer?” Death said. Bobby looked offended by his tone of voice, and made to argue back, but a nudge from Sam made him remember who he was talking to.

 

“You leave these boys alone,” Bobby said instead.

 

“To be honest, Death has pretty much been civil. It’s just been her,” Sam said, pointing with his thumb towards Evangeline, who looked offended. Bobby embraced both Dean and Sam.

 

“It’s been nice seeing you boys,” he said gruffly, and a moment later, he was gone. Dean stared at the spot where he had been standing, and wondered if that truly was only a memory of Bobby. The area around them shifted, and those remaining found themselves standing in the study of the Bat Cave.

 

“Wait, I thought we were all just dreaming,” Dean said. Evangeline snorted.

 

“Oh please, dreams are just boring,” she said.

 

“Then how did you drag us all out of bed? And where the hell were we?!” Dean said.

 

“I refuse to answer any of those questions,” Evangeline said, examining her nails.”I’m just going to say-”

 

“Don’t say it was just some mysterious reaper magic thing that you can’t explain…” Sam muttered.

 

“- that it was just some mysterious reaper magic thing that I can’t explain to you guys.”

 

“You can’t just deus ex machina this,” Charlie insisted.

 

“That guy does it all the time, and I don’t see you guys constantly questioning him,” Evangeline said, pointing at Cas.

 

“But I was created by God, so my abilities did come from God,” Cas said.

 

“He’s got you there,” the reaper from earlier said, and Dean almost jumped. He forgot about her.

 

“Oh Audrey, I forgot you were here! You really should do something about your height. You are way too easy to overlook.” The reaper, Audrey, looked upset, and opened her mouth to say something, but Evangeline quickly thumped her on the back, and began to use her head as an armrest. Dean quickly looked around to see where Death was, but all he saw was Harry standing there with a thick stack of papers looking annoyed.

 

“He only came to see where I was, and gave me bloody paperwork,” Harry grumbled, when he saw Dean looking in his direction. “At least he gave me the wand.” Harry was holding the Elder Wand, and immediately shrunk the stack, and transfigured his pajamas into regular street clothing. He looked to where Charlie and Sam were arguing with Evangeline, and Audrey, who was slowly turning redder and redder the longer she was being used as an armrest.

 

“Please don’t leave me with them,” Dean begged. Harry laughed nervously.

 

“Yeah, sorry about all this. I think she just used something from George's shop. It was one of his newer items, and she dragged me here, which means that we were all here the entire time.” Harry flicked his wand, and in a shaky font, the time was briefly shown before he vanished it. “So I have to get going, and take care of this stuff…” Harry glanced back towards the others, and made a face. “If Evangeline isn’t gone soon, then tell her Death said she’s getting her pay docked.”

 

“Why didn’t he already do that,” Dean said with a groan. “She definitely hasn’t been doing her job, unless she’s being paid to purposefully screw with us.”

 

“Death does have a bit of a dark sense of humor,” Harry muttered. “Well, “ Harry said in a sudden falsely cheerful voice, “have fun!” With a loud crack, Harry disapparated, which caught the attention of everyone else in the room.

 

“Oh, four eyes left,” Evangeline said. “That was such an anticlimactic ending to this night.” Audrey gasped.

 

“Wait, I was supposed to tell him something!” Audrey said, panicking. Evangeline rolled her eyes.

 

“Then tell him later, it's not like he's being sent away.” Audrey slumped her shoulders.

 

“But Death had said…” Evangeline patted her on the head.

 

“There, there,” she said to the still panicked reaper. “I have nothing else to do with you guys, so we're leaving.” Without further ado, Evangeline grabbed Audrey's arm, and the two of them vanished, and the quartet was left staring at each other in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, the chapter wasn't too bad. I know you guys deserve better, so sorry again about my absence. I'm also sorry about being super bad at replying to reviews, but I do read them, and they do give me motivation. It really makes me happy to see people still interested in the story after how many years since I first started it, so thank you so much for reading! From what I have outlined so far, I THINK the story will have around 20 chapters, assuming I don't combine chapters or add/extend scenes. Once again, thank you so much for reading ^_^.
> 
> (And yes, the Chanukah Special was Sydni's idea XD)


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